Hilda O’Connell

I begin my painting without any preconceived plan, which allows the format to emerge out of the process. Clusters of letters and forms, alienated from any literary tradition, are freely fragmented by disruptive techniques into a tonal envelope likened to a stream of consciousness.

In tradition, the gestalt theory bisects the visual field into positive and negative space giving preference to the positive figure as the dominant form. The negative space is then subverted
to act as a foil filled with textural details which are often overlooked. This is unfortunate because often these accidental forms can carry the most unconscious symbolism.

With this in mind, I began to examine the ignored fragments with a viewfinder which allowed a more concentrated focus. During my pandemic lockup, my interest expanded in organizing a number of the minuscule fragments to be viewed either in isolation or as a polyphonic ensemble.