In Medieval iconographic painting, the use of geometries and repeating patterns (for example, sgraffito in gold leaf) were often used to signify the purity and precision of the heavens – the Divine plan. The works in the series Eccentricity Paintings make a different use of geometry to open up new possibilities for creating dynamic space(s). I remembered learning to make 90-, 60-, 45- and 30-degree angles with a compass and a ruler in geometry class in high school and it occurred to me that these processes could be applied in an unusual manner.

The process of creating the compositions is akin to an algorithm: there are steps that follow one another and are repeated that nevertheless can also be improvised upon. This allows for a bit of chaos to enter into what would otherwise be a repetitive pattern of circles of the same size. When Western cultures fetishize the beginning point of a creative process in terms of determining the outcome, it echoes the paradigm of Christian creationism  – i.e. God makes the rules, sets the creation in motion and steps back to see what follows, etc.

All this is to say, one can look closely at these paintings and discover intersections amongst a field of circles that change in scale due to the lines drawn between intersecting points. In theory, this means that any composition made by this process would be “harmonious” in the tradition of modern painting because the spatialization is always a geometric division of the dimensions of the painting. This allows me to choose whatever new intersections I like while still conceptually maintaining a “balance” of sorts, even when a composition is deliberately absurd. What intrigues me is that the space proposed by this means of composition is intensive and dynamic, whereas Cartesian space, such as that of pixels, is extensive and static. In this intensive space, the visual relation between micro and macro, inside and outside, figure and ground etc. is rhythmic, resonant, interdependent, moving.