High Water

High Water

High Water is born of climate anxiety and the deep sadness I feel over environmental degradation, much of which is caused by our consumerist excesses. I wanted to expand the feeling of The State of Things paintings into a free form topographical relief using multiple smaller pieces of varied sizes and materials. High Water’s form is intentionally stratigraphic with layers of different types of materials moving from top to bottom as well as having an interweaving of materials in layers from the wall outward into space. As the piece grew, my thoughts about it clarified. Its form reminded me of the look of what’s left behind on a beach after a storm. Its flowing movement suggested water. I intend for High Water to have a sense of fragility, impermanence, and a precarious beauty as it speaks of both turmoil and waste.

— Susan Brenner