A painting in progress involves a continuous cycle of conscious removal and return, as I work on it and then step back to reflect on it. This dynamic, a bodily experience in which I am both creator and viewer, is significant in pictopoiesis. The painting evolves like a living organism, a growing and developing body that reveals its nature as it progresses. I perceive the work from within as if looking at it through a microscope, and from the outside when I step back, allowing me two contrasting yet complementary perspectives. As a result, I experience the work as a symbiotic relationship where the painting and I each play a distinct role in shaping a greater whole.
Each decision I make, whether in colour, texture, or form, feels less like an imposition and more like a nurturing gesture, supporting the artwork’s organic growth. Unexpected, and often surprising moments of transformation, are not mistakes, but opportunities for expansion, enriching the image’s possibilities. This dynamic interaction embodies a balancing act of feedback loops that align the work with life-sustaining biological processes, like homeostasis. The painting is alive in its way, and I cultivate it as a living entity, transferring myself into it as it reciprocates by visibly mirroring my otherwise invisible consciousness of being alive.
In this process, I aim to free both the creator and viewer by selectively rendering traditional boundaries permeable, like a living membrane. The layered translucencies in the painting are especially significant in visibly rendering this emancipatory permeability. Pictopoiesis strives to counter the divisive urge, instead looking toward a unified horizon, one shaped without the loss or compromise of individuality.
The image shown, Cultivating a Commons, is an original painting in oil on aluminium, 1250 x 1230 mm, by J. Waring Rago.
Alt Text description of featured image:
This is an abstract painting, an original work by J.Waring Rago, in oil on aluminium, measuring 1250 x 1230 mm. The composition features translucent overlapping circles in varying shades of white, pink, blue, and coloured greys. The translucent circles create a layered, ethereal effect, evoking a sense of depth and fluidity. A delicate white line weaves across the image like a freeform boundary or contour, curving and twisting in a loose, organic pattern. Circular forms resembling cellular or organic structures stand out, adding a sense of biological growth. The centre shifts towards deeper blue tones, surrounded by pale hues, contributing to the painting’s harmonious, serene and dreamlike quality.