Flawed Form
A Grid Of Wire And Lillies, 2023
Grids
“I find great satisfaction in the rigorous structure of the grid, but I like the organic on the grid so that there's a combination of structure and chaos.”
-Michelle Stuart
Michelle Stuart, Dark Energy, 2015
Agnes Martin, Night Sea, 1963
A grid is calm. Expectations. A structure to depend upon. Crossing lines build a space. I love the idea of the imperfect grid. It doesn’t cause me anxiety to draw a grid and have the lines wiggle and shake with my hand. It’s my natural state to make something imperfectly. How does the grid show up in nature.. does it? Or am I only seeing the ways that humans try to create order out of the chaos?
Flowers don't grow in an organized way, Why should I? (Greta Kline, A Joke)
Drawn to this shape, the rigid web, I want to find ways to disrupt it. I don’t wish to ruin the serenity that comes with repetition, but I want to accept and love the imperfect and unorganized. Reframing what is flawed, seeing it as intriguing and admirable. Unpredictability, change, flowing soft structures - I want to hold these ideas and forms in my art.
I feel like there is more to say on the matter and more for me to uncover, and I will in time. I’ll find more context and examples of grids in nature and art history and create more art exploring the idea. I want to lean into the ellipsis and leave it here for now. I’ll come back around to this and the points will cross again.
