UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS


Known unknowns, are "expected or foreseeable conditions" that can't necessarily be solved with past experiences. Unknown unknowns are unexpected or unforeseeable conditions that won't be solved with past experiences or expectations. And finally there are unknown knowns where we flat out ignore the things that we already know or seek to engineer ignorance in others. In my work, unknown unknowns addresses the unexpected and unforeseeable conditions inherent in the process of improvisational painting. These conditions pose a high potential of failure since the process in and of itself does not rely wholly on or in anticipation of past solutions and experiences. Inevitably the process vacillates in the tension between the knowns and the unknowns—between knowledge and ignorance. If we can be comfortable in the understanding that we don't know—can't know— some things AND be comfortable in an awareness that sometimes we intentionally ignore what we already know, then we will be primed to act in a way that is not fear-based but is based on an openness to the possibilities of discovery.

The thing we are seeking
2021
Acrylic on canvas
36 x 48 in.
Ineffable suchness
2021
Acrylic on canvas
36 x 36 in.
As it unfolds
2021
Acrylic on canvas
20 x 16 in.
In other words
2021
Acrylic on canvas
20 x 16 in.
It remains as it is
2021
Acrylic on Paper
44 x 30 in.
Colored by thoughts
2021
Acrylic on Wood Panel
24 x 36 in.
Seeking nothing else
2021
Acrylic on Wood Panel
24 x 36 in.