Week #32, Lacquer Ink I

Dusti Bongé, Untitled (Black, Purple, White and Green Abstract) 1988, mixed media on paper,  10” x 6 ½”.

In the late 1980s, Dusti Bongé being in her 80s herself, never slowed down and continued to produce a formidable volume of work, and with her indefatigable creative curiosity continued to explore new media and methods. In addition, she had become good friends with the much younger artist, Joey Rice, one of the few other abstract artist on the coast. Their age gap was utterly immaterial, because they were kindred spirits who both fiercely pursued their art, inspired one another, and experimented together with various papers and inks. 

One of the results was a series of marbleized papers they created together. While they were doing this, Dusti started working with the very heavy lacquer ink they were using in some of her other works on paper, creating several mixed media pieces with intense colors and deep blacks. The reason these pieces are unique is their very thick, fluid quality. The blacks appear like viscous swirls through the other colors, seemingly impenetrable. In fact, the black ink is so intensely dense that in some cases it almost looks like a black hole sucking up all the light.

This density is one of the hallmarks of this piece. One can actually perceive different levels of opacity in the large black form that starts in the top left and flows down to the bottom right in convex curves. A single stroke of white tempera paint through the black at the top is balanced by a few white marks in the lower left and right creating a triangulated movement. The rich violets and greens in opposite corners complement this movement. The violet, especially, seems to pop out and then disappear into the black.