Cylinder, 30" x 20", oil and acrylic on paper, 1986. Artist's collection.

The execution of this experimental painting marks the beginning of two points of focus which will commence in full in the next painting, No Radio and continue to the last painting in this gallery, Space Chase. One point of focus is the development of my own approach to an old technique in painting--chiaroscuro. The other point of focus is actually an awakening to the allure of paint--oil paint specifically--as not only a medium for creating images, but as an aesthetically evocative substance unto itself.

The image here is an experiment in ordering and modulating black and white paint in a "polarized" manner to create the illusion of light and form--chiaroscuro. Whenever the polarities (true black and true white) meet in this series of modulating tones a three-dimensional illusionistic edge is formed. The manner in which the brushstrokes terminate within the margins of the violet field of the surface creates a figure/field interplay between the chiaroscuro effects and the violet background.