These three paintings are from a series inspired by my research of the deep sea ecosystems off the coast of Costa Rica in 2023. Rift Zone is a transitional space between the under crust of the seabed and the heat vents and teeming life of the abyssal zone. It’s an area where we find heat flow and cool water exchange through the Earth’s crust. The primordial soup and life’s origins are believed to be found here.
Love Song from the Abyss and Pour Your Heart In explore the bounty of life and love found in the dark depths of the Ocean’s dark Abyssal zone. Only the bioluminescence of these creatures who reside here and the heat from the core of the Earth illuminate these dark, fertile, and dreamy environments.
oil on canvas, 8 x 10 in., 2023.
It seems fitting for these paintings of the depths to stand here in the halls of the L.C. Bates Museum, a place filled with the dreamy darkness of antiquities and creatures of the past, residing in the darkness here with their bright lights of eyes piercing the dusky half-lit air. This is the space between dreaming and wakefulness, where our minds are open to the newest ideas and creativity flows, stories unravel and reality is elusive, nigh transitional.