Terzina

Terzina - three lines

Each one beginning in a rush,
purpose in its form
words falling to the sea.

There is something in the shape of a thing that already contains its meaning. I did these two pieces called Dive where the dimensions suggested the content. (DIVE 1) (DIVE 2)

Working on a larger canvas, I divided the surface into three horizontal letterbox spaces. The format came before the idea — or rather, the format was the idea. A framed print bought secondhand, initially wanted for its frame, turned out to be wanted for its proportions. The extended horizontal strip, the way it compresses and elongates simultaneously, began to suggest the form of writing. Not language exactly.

Each strip became a line. Each line began in a flurry — linear rhythms, colour tones, forms half-glimpsed in human marks— and then tapered, quietened, moved toward dissolution, and el silencio. The paint is chalk-dry with an unpretentious surface. Acrylic with little medium, reflecting like watercolour ( my own wabi-sabi! ).

The terzina — the tercet form Dante used throughout the Divine Comedy — described by scholars as "linked, enclosed, disciplined, vehement and yet calm." ….interlocking tercets carry meaning forward through connection rather than conclusion.

Terzina is still in the passing moment, perhaps that is its nature — not to conclude, but to carry something forward, unfinished, into the next...