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Ephemeral Atmosphere · 2023
Kaleidoscope
Fractured Joy and Shifting Perspectives
In a private collection
Fractured joy — the kaleidoscope as argument that breaking apart is the condition for seeing more.
Kaleidoscope (2023) is part of my Ephemeral Atmosphere Collection, created as a meditation on the fragile beauty of perception. This 48 x 48 inch mixed media painting — blending epoxy, acrylic, and hand-painted photography — invites the viewer into a dizzying world of layered colors, fractured patterns, and shifting forms.
Inspired by the fleeting wonder of childhood kaleidoscopes, the painting offers a space of vibrant, playful exploration. Geometric shards dance across the surface, overlapping in patterns that refuse stasis. Yet beneath the surface joy lies a subtle undertone of unease — a recognition that the world we see is often fragmented, layered, and never entirely whole.
In its process and rhythm, Kaleidoscope echoes the works of Beatriz Milhazes, whose luminous abstractions weave cultural motifs into dazzling compositions. Like Milhazes, I am drawn to the seduction of pattern and color, yet Kaleidoscope also leans into imperfection and distortion. The work disrupts its own harmony, allowing moments of fracture and dissonance to punctuate the dance of forms.
As part of the Ephemeral Atmosphere Collection, this painting is a meditation on the transient, the layered, and the unstable. It asks the viewer to sit with ambiguity, to delight in shifting perspectives, and to embrace the beauty of what cannot be pinned down or made permanent.
Where to see it. In person at RituStudio, Phoenix, by appointment. Represented by Jarrow & Goodman, Los Angeles.
The space it needs
- Wall
- At least 5 ft wide
- Ceiling
- 8 ft or more
- Light
- Natural light transforms this work — morning and evening light read differently
- Daylight
- Charcoal and Prussian blue carry most of the field and hold steady; the muted red warms as afternoon sun comes in. Daylight moving through the day turns the fractures slowly, as a kaleidoscope should.
Lives best in
Living room 5/5
Kaleidoscope: Fractured Joy and Shifting Perspectives earns its place above a sofa or mantel because its Prussian blue and muted red shards keep shifting as daylight moves through the room, making it a companion to lived time rather than a fixed decoration.
Bedroom 4/5
The charcoal gray and faded ink hold the composition at a temperature cool enough for a bedroom, though the mood-5 brightness and fractured geometry introduce a mild restlessness that some sleepers will love and others will find too alive for the hour before sleep.
Details
- Size
- 4 × 4 ft (W × H)
- Medium
- Acrylic on canvas
- Finish
- Epoxy over acrylic. The resin lifts the color off the canvas and holds it forward, so the surface deepens as the light moves across the room.
- Year
- 2023
- Collection
- Ephemeral Atmosphere
- Palette
- Charcoal Gray · Faded Ink · Prussian Blue · Muted Red · Metallic
- Weight
- About 22 lb
Its ArtGram
ArtGram.Wing
- Texture2
- Form2
- Colour range5
- Palette3
- Contrast3
- Abstraction Quotient4
