This pair of new pieces returns to the BIG PAINTINGS I – VIII  (here), eight large acrylic paintings on stiched, gessoed paper which were part of the BIG SERIES PROJECT  of 2009 – 2011 (here). This two-year project was an extended exploration of the concept of the variant, each series building on a reconfiguration of a previous group.

These two newest pieces revisit the BIG PAINTINGS. Working with full-scale tracings of two of the triptych paintings, the center panel of each was eliminated and the three-paneled paintings thus were compressed into diptychs. When the tracings were originally made in 2010 it became clear that the structural essentials of each painting were to be found in the two outside panels! 

Having never pursued that set of variants at the time, I decided to resume those compositional explorations in the vein of my current work.

Exploring variants of form and reconfigurations of composition or sequence have long been inherent to my creative process. The use of series as structure is a natural outcome of this method, and the documentation of process is in itself a part of the work.

These new acrylic and chalk works on wetted, stiched papers were created specifically for the Society Of Hungarian Painters‘ fall 2019 “ÜNNEP” exhibition in the City Gallery (Városi Galéria) of Szigetszentmiklós, Hungary. The catalog, designed by Borbala Kovats, can be viewed online here

As in other recent works, form is combined with poem text. Below is the poem written for this piece – No Holiday or Ünneptelenül, with Hungarian translation by Tamás Baranyi:

 

 

NO HOLIDAY – VII

Muteness facing
noise outpacing furious
stride keeping
up slowing
down holding
in breathing
out sweetly beating
them at their own
game one hand
tied behind
Yes
No holiday!

How needling
words scrawling
sprawling splaying
playing across this time
yellowing
stained sheets
how coaxing cajoling conjuring
confessing and then
birthing itself thus
this late stage
of the game
No holiday!

Thinking idly about
the smooth potato
this time nothing
beckoning reckoning no
absence or presence
silence being soft
and darkness not
unfriendly just
unfriended
mute
a new game
No holiday!

– Diane Sophrin.
  Vermont, 6.28.19

 

 

ÜNNEPTELENÜL – VII

Némaság néz szembe
a dühös lépteket lehagyó
zajjal felzárkózva
lelassulva lélegzet-
visszafojtva kienged
édesen győzik le
őket saját
játékukban fél kézzel
hátrakötve
Igen
Ünneptelenül!

Hogyan firkálják
össze napjainkat rézsút
terpeszkedve játszadozva
a tűként szurkáló szavak
sárgára festve
a foltos lapokat
milyen csábosan hízeleg elvarázsol
beismer és aztán
így lett játékból
ez a végjáték
Ünneptelenül!

Tétlenül
a sima krumpliról elmélkedve
most semmi sem
hívogat nem számít
sem jelenlét sem hiány
a csend puha
és a sötétség nem barátságtalan
csak baráttalan
néma
egy új játék
Ünneptelenül!

– Baranyi Tamás, translation.
  Budapest, 9.29.19

 

  click here to open poem in PDF format