Original artwork description:

No Hierarchy of Light
From the series Between the Dark and Divine
This painting occupies a critical pivot within Between the Dark and Divine, articulating a shift away from vertical or aspirational readings of light. Where earlier works in the series suggested moments of emergence — pale passages lifting from darker grounds — No Hierarchy of Light decisively collapses that structure. Light is no longer a destination or a metaphor for resolution; it is material, unstable, and subject to the same forces as shadow.
The square format intensifies this condition. Rather than allowing movement to unfold directionally, the composition compresses inward, producing a rotational pull that binds all elements into a single field of pressure. Pale greys and chalked whites are dragged, scraped, and partially erased, refusing any optical privilege. They do not hover above the denser greens, umbers, and reds beneath them; instead, they are embedded, contaminated, and resisted.
This refusal marks a clear evolution from earlier paintings in the series. Previously, darker masses often operated as anchors against which lighter zones could assert contrast or escape. Here, that hierarchy dissolves. The central mass fragments under strain, pierced by black, incision-like lines that cut directly through the body of the image. These marks — sharper and more insistent than in prior works — are not gestural flourishes but acts of interruption. Flecks of red within them register as internal pressure rather than expressive color, reinforcing a corporeal reading without resolving into figuration.
In relation to contemporary abstraction, No Hierarchy of Light situates itself between gestural painting and materially driven process work. It resists the theatricality of pure gesture, as marks appear revised and negotiated rather than performed. At the same time, it avoids the emotional neutrality often associated with material-focused abstraction. The surface carries psychological density: erosion, revision, and accumulation function not as formal strategies alone but as carriers of affect.
What distinguishes this work within the series is its insistence on equivalence. Light does not redeem, and darkness does not dominate. Both are subjected to the same compressive forces, bound into a state of sustained friction. Transformation is implied but obstructed; meaning emerges not through ascent, but through endurance.
In this way, No Hierarchy of Light sharpens the inquiry of Between the Dark and Divine. The series no longer negotiates a passage between two states; it locates itself fully within their entanglement, asserting that significance lies not in opposition, but in the unresolved pressure that holds them together.

Materials used:

acrylics on stretched canvas varnished

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