Submerged Passage IV — Excavation

Mixed media (acrylic, charcoal, chine collè) on paper on cardboard.

37x42x1"

Beginning without a fixed image, this work evolved through successive layers of acrylic paint, charcoal, pastel, and process-driven mark-making. Unlike earlier works in the series, the composition emerged through construction as much as painting, incorporating torn cardboard, newsprint, and reclaimed papers into the surface itself. These layered materials create shifts in depth that suggest geological strata, eroded walls, and submerged architecture.

Built with a restrained palette of Mars black, burnt umber, titanium white, and blue, the surface was developed using unconventional tools including netting, steel implements, and direct hand application. Areas of abrasion, exposed corrugation, and irregular edges allow the material history of the work to remain visible rather than concealed.

Two suspended forms drift within this fractured environment, appearing less as subjects than as quiet inhabitants of an ancient, submerged landscape. The larger scale expands the surrounding atmosphere, where light, shadow, and negative space become active elements within the composition. Existing between abstraction and observation, the work explores excavation, memory, and the traces left beneath accumulated surfaces.