Knowledge Bath

Reading The Key Essay 10 of 17

MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS, 18 X 18

ACRYLIC, INK, 1956 BEGINNING DICTIONARY PAGES

Having been trained first as a watercolorist, and then in experimental watermedia techniques, the artist’s approach can often create the sense of liquidity in the paintings. “Knowledge Bath” is one such piece, with a watery transparency in the flow of pigment within the picture plane.

Floating near the surface is a page from the now frequent 1956 Beginning Dictionary offering “knowledge.” In the opposite corner is a key shape cut from another dictionary page, this time offering “oracle” and “opportunity.” Other less-defined key shapes linger elsewhere.

This is the first piece in the series to incorporate the key in multiples. Used as a symbol for knowledge itself, the keys in such high frequency along with the aqueous mood of the painting, lead to the suggestion of bathing oneself in knowledge.