Encaustic Panels

PETALOS

2002

Drawing Ink on hand made abaca paper with encaustic medium and beeswax on Birch plywood. Photos by Grimanesa Amorós Studio
ARTIST STATEMENT (English / Espanol)

“Petalos” is part of a body of encaustic panels originating from the set entitled “Snow and Grass.” The statement for that set discusses some of the underlying ideas and methods in this piece and the others.
I made this work to evoke a certain antiquity with its organic colors, while at the same time confronting sexual images with its vague forms of entangled bodies. Actual rose petals make some of the shapes that emerge from the encaustic layers, which are intended to give a unique image of age and dignity to the outlines. The set is mostly smooth to the touch, with rough patches further evoking the friction of sexuality against the gentle purity of the wax. These two elements interact and counter each other, lending softness to the sexual and sexuality to the soft, and ultimately joining them into the purely sensual.