Lowbrow

10/11/26: Wave

Studio Notes: When we think about the word, reflection, we can draw a line between its connection with both memory and the physical nature of light. Reflectionentered English in the late 14th century as a word to describe how surfaces throw back light or heat. Coming from the Latin word reflexio, or “a bending back,” we now also describe reflection as a way of looking back upon past experiences or ideas. I’ve been coming back to this theme in my work as you can see with both my works below. In Memory Palace, an oil painting I finished early this year, I was thinking about how light travelled and how it felt to be a mote of light speeding through the vacuum of space, bouncing off the moon, and finally reflecting from the puddle of water before me one night. While I still treat this as a metaphor for discussing my family’s recent diaspora, I still think about the image itself and how artists have described the effects of light bouncing on surfaces, whether cerebral in nature or literal. I continued exploring the theme of reflection in my daily collage titled Mirror, where I referenced the myth of Narcissus and Echo, the contrast of both Babel and Inferno, the concept of As Above so Below, and the story of Yggdrasil. All imagery that read as mirrors but also as vessels for the nature of identity. The themes of identity and duplicity permeate the myth of Narcissus and Echo. Babel’s piercing verticality is contrasted with the downward trajectory of Dante’s descent, while the story of Yggdrasil tells of the price of knowledge. Im curious where these ideas carry me next. What else do we see when we gaze at something?