There are no straight lines to be found in the organic matter that constitutes human anatomy. The human body is made up of bones, tissues, and structures that are mostly curves, spirals and molded contours. Human Forms is a series of watercolor studies on paper that began in 2015 in conversation with the muscular, skeletal, gestural, and subtle bodies.

My first painting teacher taught me that when a line or mark indicates a horizontal, we often see it with landscape or plane potential but when we mark a vertical, the human form comes to mind first. Saying “a painter is a choreographer of space”, Abstract Expressionist Barnett Newman invented what he called the “zip”, a vertical band of color. I remember reading that he wanted his paintings hung in a particular way in galleries so that people would walk alongside and experience a kindred connection to the transcendence of his powerful zips.

Though common for us to think in linear terms when identifying ourselves in space, I try not to place pressure on the horizontal-vertical axis when rendering the human form in these studies. Is that a spinal column? A breathing ribcage? An ear?