'Dissociating and Tumbling (Surface 4)' (2016) Sculpture by Kristopher Lionel

Kristopher Lionel. 'Dissociating and Tumbling (Surface 4)'. 2016. Oil, Acrylic, Aniline Dye on Plywood, Featuring a shape in wood applied to the surface and one extending beyond the edge of the rectangle. 56 x 80.5 x 2 inches.

* “Dissociating and Tumbling” received Honorable Mention in Light Space and Time's, 12th annual “Abstracts” Art Exhibition 2021 (The gallery received 1,206 entries from 34 different countries from around the world, as well as from 31 different states and the District of Columbia). *

This work is the fourth in an ongoing series titled, 'Surfaces'. 'Dissociating and Tumbling (Surface 4)' was a significant departure from the process used to create the first three pieces in the series in that the "rich accumulation of mark" did not the result from my making furniture but was rather the result of making artworks.

My wall sculpture 'Dissociating and Tumbling (Surface 4)' is informed by Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. The piece features lines and shapes cut into the surface in bas-relief as well as 1.25 inch deep recessed shape that is backed and edged with painted paper. The recessed shape is set in the context of a purely expressive field of line, shape, color, tonality, and texture. Through the use of line and atmosphere the work achieves a surprisingly expansive three-dimensional appearance. 'Dissociating and Tumbling (Surface 4)' is a large piece intended to envelop and immerse the viewer so that the experience of the work may provide respite, a space for reflection.

The following describes the backdrop, the setting, that led to the initial conception for the first piece in the series and informed the work that came after: After receiving my Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree in 1994, then going on to attain my Master of Fine Art Degree in 1997, both with concentrations in sculpture, I was offered a job working in a metal fabrication studio in Atlanta, GA. After a couple of years of this, I decided it wasn't satisfying my creative compulsions, so I moved back the the Northeast to start an artisan/art furniture design and fabrication business (a commercial use of my skills with the ulterior motive of "working on my art" in the space and with the tools and equipment used to build the furniture). Part of setting up my workshop was to build a large table as a main working surface, the base of this table had a 1/2 inch (removable) sheet of plywood screwed to it as a top. I made it removable knowing that it would take a beating and eventually need to be replaced.

A number of years later, as I was looking at this worktable that had accumulated several years of cuts, scratches, holes, and stains, I saw shapes and lines suggesting a strong composition and realized that it was calling out to be made into a work of art, a wall sculpture. With paint and stain I began to emphasize selected shapes and obscure others. After working on it laid flat for a time (often looking down from atop an eight foot ladder), I separated it from its base and worked on it upright, cutting through it and making the recessed shapes you see in the finished piece. Working through the process of discovering and creating this piece, I decided that Surface (thought of as both noun and verb) was how I would name it. Years of building furniture on this work-surface resulted in a rich accumulation of mark, these marks eventually surfaced to reveal the composition of an artwork. Surface is both what it was and how it became what it now is.

* A note about the series, 'Surfaces':

The process described above, in which the accumulation of mark resulted from making furniture, ended when I decided that furniture making wasn't satisfying my creative compulsions and began to focus singularly on my artwork. The lines and marks, etc. in the work 'Dissociating and Tumbling (Surface 4)' and all 'Surfaces' moving forward, were/are accumulated from my art-making process.

Related themes

AbstractAbstract Wall ArtAbstract ArtAbstract ExpressionismAbstract Sculpture