Erika Keck

When a phrase enters my mind and glances at something that feels Real, I immediately scratch it down on the nearest scrap of paper. Inevitably, as soon as the words hit the page, they recede from whatever they had momentarily touched, never arriving at what they intended to be. Often I stash them between the pages of books, releasing them from my immediate frustration and suspicion.

Recently, I pulled a book from my shelf and the phrase “the appear useful clock” fell out and into my lap. Attempting to decode what those words meant, I was seized by the compulsive drive to build a clock that could do just that– appear useful. With no knowledge or love for gears or springs, I spiraled on a path to construct this machine. Its only purpose is to create a rhythm. Leaning on what I do love I translated this to canvas at the cadence of my own tempo-rality.

The paintings presented in this show come from the past year, during which I held sustained correspondences with kindred artists—Forrest Bess, Agnes Martin, George Pitts. I borrowed from and responded to the forms, colors, and feelings they employed. Eventually, I arrived at my own idiosyncratic set of parameters: my gridded framework.

These paintings are created regularly--often daily-- and are completed in a single sitting. They do not attempt to represent, abstract, or symbolize. Instead, they set a pace. Trace a lineage. They echo each other moving from one distant place to another. The paintings act as conduits for an aspirational self, a shape, a body, a form that is not yet known–oh utopia! Each painting marks a connection and holds an image just long enough for it to recede. As it fades, the redis-covery begins.