Paintings and a Poem

(some prose on painting)

Sometimes, when I paint,
I dance a dance of counterpoint
              where I begin with an X,
              and  counter with a Y:
As in the movement of a line
              where,
              the vertical stroke demands to be followed by one good horizontal;
              or, maybe, the horizontal begs to be slashed
                            right down the middle by a vertical;
              or, maybe, even, out of the blue,
                            an exhilarated diagonal liberates itself and shoots off the canvas.
As in a duet of complements
              where,
              the yellow gets sick of being yellow and demands a splash of purple;
              or, maybe, a blue hankers after an interruption of orange;
              or, red won’t go anywhere without green.
As in shadow and light
              where,
              the dark insists upon at least
              a spot of pure white aligned against it
              so as to become the blackness that it is.
In this way, the painting progresses in its spiraling search for balance
             Until the need for a final dangling element, the final touch
             a point without a counter 
(the balance of the entirety is threatened!)
             but, no, the magic holds
                            barely.

Urban Markings in Encaustics 2021

Increasingly I search the streets of my urban world, often seeing beauty where others may not.  Discarded objects, recycled materials, graffiti, torn flyers, rusted metal all provide a bridge between my inner world and the outer landscape of urbanization and globalization. I apprehend and appreciate the life and beauty that urbanity offers us– weathered through time, distinguished by history, and marked by human presence.

The Hiking Club; A Vocabulary Of Yearning

This current project titled “The Hiking Club; A Vocabulary of Yearning” intertwines landscape, trees and the sublime in nature with the story of being the daughter of an immigrant. The works bring together nature and society and address an inheritance of longing. The project is homage to landscape and trees, as well as to the lost utopian ideals of Simmel’s father and the woods in which he wandered.

Urban Markings in Encaustics

Increasingly I search the streets of my urban world, often seeing beauty where others may not.  Discarded objects, recycled materials, graffiti, torn flyers, rusted metal all provide a bridge between my inner world and the outer landscape of urbanization and globalization. I apprehend and appreciate the life and beauty that urbanity offers us– weathered through time, distinguished by history, and marked by human presence.

Paintings of Los Angeles

Peter Wowkowych is an artist and architect working in Santa Monica, California. His paintings are made with encaustics, an ancient Egyptian painting method which uses hot beeswax, pigments and damar resin.