EDGE of CHAOS

This work addresses chaos and complexity theories as they relate to the natural world, the volatility of climate change in its disruptive effect on our environment, and the fragile equilibrium between order and disorder in nature and our lives.

Chaos appears everywhere in nature. The most minute disruption of a single component within a system will affect its evolution, rendering that system and its complex networks unpredictable. Similarly, one gesture, one mark, or a collision of marks can alter the architecture and structure of a drawing or painting; and when images are captured and layered with a camera, they record uniquely shifting moments of light, space, and time.

My practice is intuitive, intentionally fluid, and innately unpredictable. In working with these active elements, chain reactions transform the picture in endless ways, until ideally, some form of resolution or integrity is achieved. The same holds true in our lives. One decision, one action, or statement, a longing, desire, turn, change of mind, blink or glance can transform what remains of our time, our relationships, or how we maneuver through and view the world.

There is a precarious balance, at the edge of chaos, where systems are chaotic enough to disclose invention through their disorder, yet maintain sufficient structure to not splinter nor lose identity. This juncture, where the elements of a picture, a forest, or a life, never quite lock into place, yet do not disintegrate into instability, is where paths open to move forward and explore the unknown.

 —Lawrence Fodor, 2024

References: Christopher Langton, M. Mitchell Waldrop, Christian Messier, Klaus J. Puettmann