Craig Hong

Nonobjective painting, working the liquid medium, is a barely filtered act of expression, constantly making choices as the surface becomes more viscous. Once dry, the painting can be worked by other means advancing to completion.

“Spiral Jetty” on the Great Salt Lake sits high and dry and I have access to trillions of digital images to distract me when not drilling down that, figuratively speaking, ancient lava pipe searching for that singular flawless gem, like pursuing an unknowable truth, the effort to achieve the improbable is most compelling, besides we stumble on some very cool stuff along the way, post its, velcro, microwave ovens, and that occasional painting that holds your gaze, at least for a while.

Pre pandemic, sitting at the Ala Moana “Mai Tai Bar”, I asked a retired cellular biologist if he had done any travelling. I’ve been on twenty-three tours. Been to Antarctica? No, I’ve seen penguins, said he missed his electron microscope. If he had been born later, he might have had stock options in a biotech startup. Didn’t matter, he still continued to be amazed by it all.