mora pahara

in 2000, while i was trying to find a way to move my paintings into new territory i happend upon this old train brochure published by the indian state railways. the cover, of course, was enough to make me need to own it, as the painting on the front is completely amazing; but the inside didn't seem all that interesting until i discovered the map on the last page.

this image made up of the lines that connect all of the sites on the route map, reminded me of some of buckminster fuller's structures. i began to think about maps not just as drawings but also as objects in space; and in terms of image building, the lines suggested a potential of other forms by simply connecting the dots in different ways - essentially creating new images through new routes to the same destinations.

this idea of building new images by connecting the same points in space differently, became the beginnings of an incredibly rich step forward. i did a series of 10 paintings based on the map and then the brochure got lost in the disaster that is my studio. a last week i was looking for something else and i happened upon it again... a few days later and i'm working on a sculpture, finally using those ideas suggested by fuller, creating not just an image, but an object in space...

i am constantly amazed at the richness one can find in such seemingly inconsequential objects...