Simon Ogden
‘ HWY 285 heading north ‘ a work in three chapters
This work was originally conceived as a three panel work to be presented as a single panoramic vista . The inspiration for this work centred around my experiences of a drive that I made in New Mexico in 2015 from Santa Fe to Taos on HWY 285 and of a visit that I made to the extraordinary beautiful Santa Fe Folk Museum after that drive.
During the design and construction of this work in April 2019 each panel began to develop its own particular narrative and these were developed further during the final stages of the construction in July . The final configuration of the work is a triptych in 3 chapters , panel number one ‘the duck hide,' panel number two‘ the seduction,' and panel number three
‘the body ‘ .
The narrative structure of the work I liken to that of a Tarantino or a Wes Anderson script where each chapter [ panel ] tells its own story whilst also acting as the prompt for the following chapter and the works conclusion.
The Duck Hide
The Seduction
The body
The sun bleached earth colours of the linoleum that is used as the ground on all three panels describes the semi desert Savannah of HWY 285 landscape and the black dotted grid printed onto the linoleum acts as the formal devise that holds the numerous visually complex narratives in harmony with each other.
The duck hide dimension by 2m x 2.5m
The inclusion of the deeply vibrant linoleums which have been jigsawed together ,almost kaleidoscopically , provide punctum points within the panoramic landscape and are my response to the landscape and the idiosyncratic visual graphics and symbolism of the New Mexican folk art culture.