# Rust and Renewal


This series of paintings uses fragments of broken umbrellas and iron filings mixed into the paint. Over time, the iron shards rust, changing their color and texture. This rusting, a result of the oxidation, leads to visible transformations in the paintings. Here, the time is employed as an additional material, necessary for the artwork’s unfolding.

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/uploads/2023/11/umbrella-1-scaled.jpg | Smashed Mosquito 2 | Painting of a giant mosquito on a textured, iron-flecked ground; its veined wings and dark body bleed into the surface, its legs resurrected from umbrella ribs and a rusting rod embedded in the paint.
/uploads/2023/11/umbrella-2-scaled.jpg | Umbrella forest | Painting of a bare winter grove - slender trees scratched into the surface and grown from embedded umbrella ribs, each tagged with a small numbered label, standing above a cold band of reflecting water.
/uploads/2023/11/umbrella-5.jpg | Umbrellas | Painting of a broken black umbrella fallen open in a luminous field beneath an overcast sky, its bent frame and curved handle splayed wide, a patch of light glowing at its side.
/uploads/2023/11/umbrella-4-scaled.jpg | Umbrella Tree | Painting of a small tree sprung from dark earth, its branches a cluster of umbrella ribs with glowing leaves caught among the sticks, on a speckled, textured field.
/uploads/2023/11/umbrella-3-scaled.jpg | Smashed mosquito | Painting of a mosquito collapsing into a fan of broken umbrella ribs, its body bleeding downward and thin black legs splaying across the scratched, iron-flecked surface.
/uploads/2023/11/umbrella-6-scaled.jpg | The morphology of Ma | Painting of a rusted, iron-oxidised plate in which umbrella ribs splay from a single joint like the skeleton of a horse, Chinese anatomical labels naming the bones and amino-acid formulae scrawled in the corner - a mock natural-history specimen of decay.
/uploads/2023/11/forest-exhibition-scaled.jpg | At Forest Exhibition | Painting showing the umbrella canvas, framed in pale wood and hung on a rough dry-stone wall outdoors - the work returned to the open air and the elements it once sheltered against.
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Organic textures merge with mechanical remnants, parts of shattered umbrellas, weaving a narrative canvas filled with tales of change and adaptability. Iron filings mixed into the paint imbue these pieces with a dynamic nature, evolving as rust accumulates and alters hues over time.

The skeleton of an umbrella, once a protector from the elements, is now resurrected. Intertwining with nature’s unpredictable ways and triggered by decay, it starts a process of renewal. These once-abandoned objects are recycled, gaining new purpose and meaning. Their transformation, coupled with the ongoing rusting process, symbolizes a journey beyond the stillness of a ‘finished’ piece.

Within this fusion, as nature slowly addresses the rust, and as the iron shards begin tanning, a story of endurance emerges. Both time and the objects, in their evolving roles, display a capacity for adjustment, seeking equilibrium amidst alteration. This endurance is about persisting and acknowledging new shapes and meanings arising from deterioration, continuously evolving with the deepening shades of decay.

The fragments of umbrellas, part of this new play, take roles in a broader story of change, persistence, and the perpetual fluctuation between order and disarray. This story calls for a deeper examination of the allure found in the unforeseen and invites contemplation of the myriad prospects born from the union of disparate realms, in a form of art that is ceaselessly shifting.

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Source: https://emptyname.org/rust-and-renewal/
Licence: CC0 / Free as Air - https://emptyname.org/faal