Looking back across the breadth of one’s experience reveals the measure of their competence. Youth and naivety give way to humility and self-awareness. Realizing that the path being taken goes for far longer than first thought. The steps already taken that seemed such massive leaps at first now begin to look minuscule, but embarking is ancillary to moving forward. Evoking past struggles and triumphs for re-examination reveals subtextual undertones hidden prior. Mistakes, failures, and successes all have their role in building a person, but there is always so much more to learn and to see.

 

Joseph Fraylon s windows proffer the narrative of “looking in “to a scene obscured by a thin shroud. Like Plato s cave shadows, the observed is a mere similitude. While one is able to grasp what is happening through the haze, it is only with a more proactive approach that one might be able to see something for what it truly is. Flora being present both beyond and as part of the veil implies the ubiquity of natural laws and the environment of one’s progression.

 

Carl Dumdum s vibrant colors intertwined with the artist’s visage and tools intimate his introspection. The spectrum of hues brings to mind thermal imaging and suggests intensity from a range of sensations. Making visible the felt but intangible. The abstract placement of “heat” beyond the form insinuates an overflow. Where the vessel is too definite to define phenomena.

 

Where one emphasizes obscurity the other seeks to accentuate. Scratching the Surface is an admission for both artists of their precedent innocence and their commitment to further explore that which lies beneath the surface. Their history of working together, and collective experiences commiserate through their contrasting perspectives and imagery. To explore further the iceberg in anticipation and realization of what more is to come.

 

Floyd Absalon