Alissa Neglia

“The river looked at them with a thousand eyes, green, white, crystal, sky blue, above all he learned from it how to listen to it with a still heart, with a waiting open soul, without passion, without desire, without judgement, without opinions.”

Herman Hesse, Siddartha.

Lace is an interpretation of the meditative ebb and flow, the odyssey of the river.

At Socrates, the stories of the East River are muses of the past. The shipwrecks in Hell’s Gate and the farms replaced by a dense skyline are a reflection of the constant flow of the river changing and working its changes in anonymous tranquility and determination. The under painting of the piece are the circular patterns which serve as a microcosm of the cycle of movement, change and renewal. The repetition of forms represent the constant reverberations that water reflects on life. Opposing the representation of movement is the wooden frame that surrounds, suggesting the contrast between the timeless flow of the river and the change that encompasses it. The ideal backdrop is the East River flanked by the grid of the New york skyline.

The elemental forces of nature that create life also create ideas and inspiration. Water is turbulent, tumultuous, chaotic and destructive, yet an embodiment of peace, tranquility and perfection. I use these elemental forces as a source of inspiration.