Aili Schmeltz
Region: Pacific Coast
I developed the series Object/Window/Both/Neither while renovating
a homesteader cabin in the Californian Mojave Desert.
Painting the interior walls a glowing white made the landscape
pop in through the windows, becoming an object, and the walls
recede into the background. The effect reminded me of an eye
game familiar from childhood, where a shift in focus inverts the
relationship of figure and ground.
The works in the series are both sculptures and paintings,
windows and objects. I often wander the desert, watching the
light flatten and sculpt form. Here the land and plants continually
shape-shift, volumes erode, erase, and reconfigure. The palette is
derived primarily from the sky at dawn and dusk; the preliminary
sketches for the pieces are photographs made through shaped
frames that isolate a small portion of the sky, removing context.
In its viscosity, the paint emphasizes the contrast between the
super-glossy and ultra-matte colors, which vibrate off one
another to create a moiré effect. The viewer is asked to walk
around the work, paralleling the act of viewing sculpture.