Rockiles 2017

David Michael Hinnebusch made this painting, Rockiles, with paint and collage, and it's really something to look at, isn't it? The way he's layered these different materials and colors suggests to me that the process of making this was pretty loose and intuitive. I really like that area in the center, where the purple paint bleeds into the red, almost like a bruise. The paint is applied pretty thickly in some parts, but then it's also scraped away, revealing bits of paper and text underneath. It's like he's building up this whole history of marks and gestures, then digging into it to find something new. The figure standing by the column is really well observed. The whole piece seems like a real balancing act between control and chaos, which I think is true for most artmaking, really. It kind of reminds me of some of the collage work of Robert Rauschenberg, where he was also combining painting and found objects to create these really complex, layered surfaces. Ultimately, it's all about embracing uncertainty and letting the materials guide you.