Week #11, Joss Papers, Final Works from 1991 III

Untitled (Red, Orange and Purple Abstract), 1991, watercolor on paper, 5 ¾” x 4 ¾”

Here we have another a lovely small joss paper painting by Dusti Bongé from 1991. I mentioned last week how the joss papers Dusti used had either a silver or gold leaf square on them and that the “gold’ tone is achieved by placing an orange wash over the silver leaf (neither are real silver or gold leaf).

This work was created on one of the silver leaf joss papers, and as such it does not have the distinctive orange accent that so many of the others do. However, Dusti does use a dominant wash across the whole composition that is a rusty, orangey hue. This wash mostly surrounds the silver square but occasionally runs over it and, in those instances, you can notice the silver leaf taking on a more gilded tone. In addition to this main color there are also several vertical and horizontal swaths of purple and a blue-gray form curving up across the central square.

But beyond these various watercolor markings and washes, there is another compositional element to note. This work is one of those where Dusti added small, collaged elements into the mix to play off the shiny central square. Here, these are bright red scraps of paper freely and unevenly torn, but also still retaining at least one straight edge. Their intentional positioning, while partly covering the silver foil, simultaneously also frames it.  And the intensity of their red, and their “harsh” straight edges, form a jarring contrast against the fluidity of the rest of the composition.