Presence
From the Excavation Series
Presence is the opening work in the Excavation series — the point of orientation before accumulation, disturbance, and withdrawal.
The painting establishes the conditions that the series later tests and dissolves. A white field operates as consciousness: not empty, but active and receptive. Blue holds the weight of the past — memory, pattern, inheritance. Yellow gestures toward the future as projection and possibility rather than destination.
Two vertical lines pass through the surface. One represents an imposed trajectory: the line shaped by expectation, instruction, and adaptation to the world. The second, positioned closer to harmonic proportion, marks a quieter internal alignment — a line not chosen, but recognised.
Near the lower quadrant, a small square anchors the present moment. From it, a subtle diagonal movement traces intention becoming form — the act of imagining forward while standing fully in the now.
Rather than resolving tension, the work holds it. Nothing is erased. Nothing is overwritten. The painting proposes that integration begins not by removing what came before, but by standing beside it with clarity.
As the first work in the Excavation series, Presence introduces time, awareness, and orientation — the necessary conditions for everything that follows.
Artist’s Note
There were two lines once.
One shaped by inheritance.
One emerging through attention.
The painting did not ask me to choose.
It showed me where I was already standing.
(Inscribed on the reverse of the original work)
Series Context
Presence forms part of the completed Excavation series, alongside Excavation and What Remains.
Read together, the three works move from awareness, through saturation, into stillness — tracing the conditions under which meaning is sought, accumulated, and finally released.
This body of work is closed.
Framing
Tasmanian oak frame (professional grade).
Availability
This work is no longer publicly available for purchase.
Presence is held as part of the private Excavation series and is available only through direct collector placement.
Shipping & Handling
Worldwide insured delivery in custom protective crate.
Artwork value declared in full for insurance coverage.
Ships from Melbourne, Australia.
Pricing
Removed from public display.
