Saint Helices 71a, 10" x 32" & 10" x 26", oil and acrylic on paper, 1996. Artist's collection.

One way of interpreting the Saint Helices composition is to regard it as a series of offset modulations of light and shadow--chiaroscuro. In these five painted shapes--one large shape at the top and four at the bottom--I am identifying the makeup of the atmospheric, or, shape-related environment out of which the elements of the composition could be produced naturally. The black shapes at the top and the white shapes at the bottom are all the cutout areas where the forms for version 71 were taken.

This is the last piece made in the second Montreal studio. I would return to the United States and set up a studio in New York City.