Clayton Merrell

Parabolic Garlands, 2017

Oil on canvas

As we look at the natural world, we have a tendency to not only perceive it as it is, but to also project on to it our notions of what we think it should be. Parabolic Garlands is a representation of that process of observations, abstraction and idealization. Color and light from the sky are refracted through twin lenses of mathematical precision and fantastical inventiveness to create a “natural phenomenon” somewhat akin to a rainbow. The shapes are simple parabolas, forms that respond to gravity and hang like garlands, but also shapes that evoke the ecliptic- the apparent pathway along which the planets and moon move across the night sky. So, this painting hovers between day and night, randomness and order, reality and fantasy.