Ornette
[Mixed Media on panel 12x12]
by Thomas Ziorjen

"The paintings in this series are all 12x12" (album cover size -- remember albums?) 1.5" deep. The format turned out to be really interesting to work with. An inch and a half is really quite deep. They look a little like pizza boxes for small pizzas. Most of the collage bits that come to one of the edges actually wrap around to the side. There are also small bits that exist as little surprises only on the sides. Paint continues around. So they move beyond the picture plane and really establish themselves as *objects*. That's why I decided to leave some wall in the photos, with reflected light above and shadow below. They just didn't look right cropped back. They need to be objects. They also change compositionally as your angle of vision changes."