i ching

2002-2003

These paintings were among my first attempts to let the I Ching shape a creative process. I drew a hexagram each morning, then tried to respond with paint—sometimes gesturally, sometimes symbolically, sometimes without knowing why. I wasn’t aiming to illustrate the hexagrams. I wanted to enter into dialogue with them, to let their energy or imagery work on me through the brush.

Like all the work I’ve done, the support surfaces were found objects. I used mostly mismixed housepaints from the hardware store as well as oil sticks where I wanted to add text.

The results are uneven, but something opened here. These early experiments helped me begin to trust the unknown.