Calamari

Calamari, pusit in Ilonggo, seems an appropriate title for this work for several reasons: the way squid are caught in a net woven in a regular pattern yet able to contort easily to accomplish its task. Also, the three states of a squid’s existence—in the sea, in a net, and being processed and cooked—are echoed in the structure of the painting: the cool grey-green ground, overlaid by warm ochre filaments and overlaid again by a grid of black circles that hold the composition together. I think of the way Monet used waterlilies to anchor the swirling water of his Giverny paintings.