Idolum 2012

Editor: Well, hello there. Right off the bat, I’m seeing something…almost sorrowful. Like a memory trying to coalesce but always remaining just out of reach. The watercolor bleeds beautifully. Curator: What you're sensing, I think, resonates with Darren Waterston's practice in "Idolum" from 2012. Waterston's known for these incredibly complex abstract works, often playing with form and the legacy of abstract expressionism itself. Editor: Abstract expressionism, huh? I can definitely see that. There's this tension between chaos and control – splatters fighting against very precise linework. Gives the piece a sort of vibrant vulnerability. It's messy but the boats also provide some balance. Curator: Indeed. There is such balance between the soft washes of color and the sharpness of the implied structure. Waterston places these chaotic events to play in unison with a regiment of organized geometry, offering, perhaps, a play of time and the human condition itself. His exploration, I believe, is very personal in these paintings. Waterston’s work at the time challenged conventional notions of what a watercolor could achieve and perhaps how it could represent complex feelings. Editor: Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Was this intentional or accidental? Waterston's probably had to wrestle the history of representation in his abstracts to mean anything today, though he makes it look seamless. But with these linear elements here, it could have some architectural roots… Curator: Well, in my understanding, Waterston wanted viewers to reconsider painting's role within the contemporary landscape. To make sense of the rapid evolution of form as the driving force behind his experimentation. Editor: So, beyond just “a pretty picture,” we have these intentional structural lines interacting with a sense of raw emotion in the painting—it makes a viewer consider art in terms of feeling... it's something! Curator: Absolutely, the painting as an historical object allows Waterston to question historical narratives within social constructs. It brings us into an intellectual space which makes the piece infinitely dynamic. Editor: Dynamical indeed! So while seemingly quiet and pale, this watercolor piece roils under its placidness, raising more than one art historical conundrum. Thank you. Curator: And thank you.