This is a painting that I’ve never posted online before (many of my other completed paintings have been viewable on my facebook profile) because it’s… well, it’s not much to look at. In fact, it’s kind of a weird first painting to post. The reason that it’s showing up now is that it is accompanied by a great story, which seemed like a good way to kick this off.

A while ago I posted this description of it in my personal blog… and considering that I’m kinda tired and wordpress has this enticing blockquote button, I shall provide you with the excerpt:

There’s a painting that I made in 2004 based on a dream of mine that hangs in my kitchen over my oven. In my dream I was kneeling beside an oven attempting to make the shape of a yin yang in a cookie sheet out of sand. I was trying to shape it perfectly so that I could then put it in the oven and permanently solidify it, but it kept shifting on me as I was working. It was extremely frustrating.

I didn’t know what to make of the dream at the time, but it seemed somehow to be so unbelievably important that I decided to paint the image. I got it about half finished and then let it go for a while. I don’t even know how long it took me to realize the overwhelming irony of the project: I spent the dream laboring to create a static representation of a symbol of universal dynamism AND THEN I MADE A PAINTING OF IT. It doesn’t get much more dense than that. Once I realized what I’d done, I signed and framed the half-finished painting. It’s now perfect in its infinite potential. And it’s a nice wall decoration in the kitchen.

Painted 2004, declared complete 2007