Artist Statement
Tasha Aulls 2006
Between the Big Bang and Big Bomb
There is something powerfully mysterious about the unruly
universal energies that bring form to life. These forces create everything we
see around us. They influence what science and religion only hint at, moving in
interconnected cycles and random patterns that move forwards and backwards in
time. We see the world around us as a topography of semi-permanent or stable
entities, but the energy that is at the root of all matter is in a transient
state. Seen through this lens, the world dematerializes. What is left are the
dynamics between things, and the notion that everything is in a constant state
of instability and change.
ÒBetween the Big Bang and the Big BombÓ threads an abstract narrative
through cycles of emergence and dissipation. The notion of flux is key to the
work and is intertwined with my own painting process. Working from a personal
language of spikes, tangled clusters, explosions, and charged voids, the
initial layers create a direction that launches a series of painted ÒeventsÓ.
These get painted over, scraped away and modified by the proceeding successions
of mark-making, fighting with each other until a strong enough intention comes
to being, and dictates the evolution of the final stages of the work.
The paintings are built in a manner that makes it impossible to
take in the whole image (the main ÒeventÓ) while absorbing all of the Òsub
eventsÓ that occur on a small scale and in the process of the paintings
evolution. Your experience of the work is contingent on how you direct your
gaze or let your eye be led through the painted field. Different elements
appear slowly over time; some can only be seen from specific vantage points.
The work exists in a state of viewer-directed evolution, where you participate
in creating an abstract narrative exploring cycles of emergence and
dissipation. The final interpretation is influenced by how you approach the act
of looking, and how deeply you immerse yourself into the painting.