Pandora's Box
2019
oil on canvas
15x15"
For the better part of a year (mid-2018 to mid-2019) I worked almost exclusively with the Zorn palette. Pandora's Box was the first painting I made with a full palette after that year-long experiment. I was curious to see whether 13 colors would seem garish in comparison. I deliberately set up the most colorful objects I own against a neutral background to force myself to actually use all 13 colors; I wanted to test their range on a variety of surfaces, from most to least saturated.
I've always loved Mythology. From reading Edith Hamilton in freshman english class to making my first body of work about contemporary sirens, those iconic stories still hold a particular fascination for me. My painter friends were right - it was definitely time to let color back out of the box.
