“Anhelo”
2004, 26 x 16”, serigraph print
edition 65
Printed at Coronado Studio, Austin, TX
“Anhelo” is one of those images that had a long gestation period and continues to haunt me. To date I have made three versions of this image (a digital painting in photoshop, a charcoal drawing, and a serigraph print.) I think the initial idea came to me back in 1993 when I was creating my underwater series, but it wasn’t until much later that I actually committed a sketch to paper (a doodle really, in the margins of one of my work calendars during a staff meeting). The plunge was the basic aspect I wanted to represent. Cannonball, bubbles billowing overhead, a bubble tornado – a disturbance in the calm.
Later, the idea grew. I wanted there to be a purpose to the plunge some action that would pose a bigger question. The figure began to hold onto something. The thing was either going to help or hinder him. In the end the “thing” grew to represent that which one holds onto, stubbornly, far past the point where it’s good for you. Will you let it go – or will you let it drag you down?
The title is the bow on the package. Anhelo is the Spanish word for desire or longing.
2 comments:
a memorable piece, i enjoy watching the colors-to me they move; the water that is this persons coccoon of two choices: birth or stagnation. When I stare at the bubbles this person is creating while on their way down, too much air seems to be escaping and of course this will make them sink, yet the bubbles are still connecting the figure to the surface-the outside world. You have done a wonderful job in creating this feeling in the painting and it makes me want to find out if they ever want to emerge or keep going to the abyss that waits...
An Absolutely Splendid Capture of Desire.
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