This series is another leap from the drawings in my sketchbooks to paintings on canvas. Sketching is a favorite ritual because it combines both internal and external observation. The sketches are glimpses, vignettes and often unplanned stories. They are a stream of consciousness where pen and ink make the unintentional intentional. The results are a visual journal expressing the magic I find in this landscape of objects and place.
There's a thread that weaves through my sketchbooks that advises me on what to paint and this group of artworks is another phase of my listening.
Lands End Project distills my visual experience. The balance between opposing forces, the tension of opposites and the space between. The ephemeral nature of a ripe persimmon placed upon the enduring strength of the rock that remains long after the lifespan of the vibrant fruit. Mortality and immortality coexist. The sky and sea reinforce the solidity of the stone altar and speak to the changing climates and seasons of a lifetime.
At this point in my evolution as an artist I extend my artwork to integrate all the iconic elements of the world familiar to me near the coast at Lands End. In doing so I aim to unify these disparate components and reveal their essential meaning in a spectacular place where grounding gives way to an ocean of limitless possibility.
- Jay Mercado
