Joseph Ray
drawing, painting, works on paper
My most recent work is being done on handmade paper, using watercolor and ink with inclusions from the area where they are drawn. The images are an investigation of visual perception and how it is affected by stimulation. Our senses are triggered by sight, sound, smell, touch and taste; then, perception based on memory and experience brings meaning to those sensations and provides us an interpretation of the world but not a perfect representation of it. This idea that what is perceived and what is real may never be the same, this line between what is true and what we perceive to be true is the underlying inspiration for this work that consists of both a realistic and linear understanding of my surroundings. Rendering three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface, the transformation from form to line, where object ends and space begins — for me, this begins to create a dialogue about the relationship between perceptions, reality and the truth.