Greg Colson Essay
Cheryl Ekstrom (Visiting Painting)
#29 Greg Colson (Response Painting)
My first response to the previous painting was somewhat neutral...that I was looking at a white abstraction, or process painting, made with plaster in the spirit of Piero Manzoni. As I continued to look, the upturned profile of a head emerged that seemed too defined to be purely accidental. A textured diagonal swath obscures the features of the head, and appears to divide into two sections – the top section perhaps a bandana and the bottom section a blindfold. Or maybe the whole thing is a bandage. Is this an image of a hostage?...an oppressed American Indian?...a blindfolded Willie Nelson with his trademark bandana?
“Bandana, Blindfold, Bandage”...all strips of fabric tied about the head, that suggest many contrasting and overlapping notions: underdog, rebel, outlaw, hard labor, captive, torture, injury, bondage, fetish, concealment, mask, cover-up, signifier, identity, uniform, non-conformist, fashion accessory. Plaster is also symbolic as a material used to conceal (as a patch), or to bandage or heal (as a cast).
My struggle with this project is acknowledging that my interpretation of the previous painting might well be totally off base from the artist’s intent. Ironically this confirms my belief that perception is mutable, and ascribing truth and meaning to things is a slippery business.