lock
acrylic on canvas
24x24"

original artwork: $ 1,728
reproductions starting at: $ 44

The story behind the artwork

This image is most obviously like a puzzle piece in a “locked” position. But I’ve used this title as a way to invoke other meanings associated with the image. I used underwater references such as kelp and corals while composing it. There are other, darker meanings I associate with this image such as locks, which are deep channels that allow boats to pass between different bodies of water. There’s an old lock near where I used to live in Georgetown, Washington, DC. I have a friend who described diving in this lock and finding it dark and spooky. At the bottom, he had just enough light to see the ground was moving. It turned out to be covered with huge catfish living on top of one another in a dark chaotic world. I’ll never get that image out of my mind. Another meaning is of Davy Jones’ locker, the final resting place of a sailor drowned deep within the ocean. The forms are smooth and soothing, but mono-color and how the sea appears at depth. You loose all visual preception of color except blues and greens as you descend deeper and deeper. There are many mysteries of the sea that as humans we may never “unlock.”