Smithsonian magazine's 22nd Annual Photo Contest | Made possible through the support of MPB.com

21st Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Artistic
Stained Glass Impression

"Cathedral Cut Glass rendering of Psalm 25.16-18" is the caption (paraphrased, KJV): Turn to me, and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish. Look upon mine affliction and distress and take away all my sins. SGI display's one of the author’s font styles (Eboe Walker). The passage reads L-R, each rectangular 'box' holding a word. Non-linear due to word sizes, words draw from intuition where 'less is more' guides. They don't sync, making kinetic broken rhythms. One's eyes must dance about as they focus about. Fluid 'real-time' perception is always charged; it is the rational mind that ‘halts,’ attempting to piece things together ofttimes resulting in 'mental inertnorance.' The ‘motional’ put-together, due to fast- fluent perception shifts are what makes the painting spirited, effervescent and ‘alive,’ making the angular piece springy. Colors are one’s own choice. The highly charged versicoloring breaking rhythm font design fires evoking eye kinetic chequering motions, giving the flat 2D projection pulsating 3D vivacities and is meant to be, in its overall composition, 'complexly minimalist,' simple, yet profound, sparsity producing abundance. Eyes ruggedly skip about the fracturing hues yet are smoothly transfixed upon them. The rational fixates upon set colorations. The intuition kaleidoscopes on unimpeded, jagged disordered luminosities seeking composed prismatic order. Sharp-edged psychedelics askew, acute, yet geo-chromatically square, spectruming solidities stir non-existent after-coloring shadows. The jumbling florescenting picture 'appears' at first like 'no-picture.' It seems to say nothing. Yet the fragmented hot-colored construct glisters cohesively, chromatically makes itself felt -- A hallmark of great Cathedral-stained windows telling stories of humankind and the Divine.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 08.2023
Date Uploaded: 09.2023
Photo Location: Mitchell, Nebraska, United States of America
Copyright: © douglas laurent