Boundless: Sublime Maelstrom is the second phase of the Boundless body of work in which I am rendering large-scale oil paintings that reference cloud masses, dramatic weather systems, and limitless geographical horizons as witnessed in Southern Saskatchewan and Alberta. 

I use abstracted imagery as conceptual icons to convey ideas about Boundlessness, the concept of “Boundless” being a sublime one that has been universal since the beginning of conscious thinking; The word Chaos has been used to describe this boundless Space and draws its original twofold meaning from the ancient Greek word “cha”, holding and releasing. The experience of being within that infinite space tethers and perhaps diminishes us, yet also exhilarates and fulfills us by igniting the imaginative leap. In this way, I embrace more affirmative definitions of both maelstrom and chaos, as states of being that are rife with change, upset yet also potential.

Many ideas from my prior work prevail: The paintings in this series are expansive, stylized representations that are as much metaphors for spiritual longing as they are portraits of a magnificent geography. I also continue to be inspired by the ephemeral nature of light and the sustenance it provides in physical, psychic and symbolic terms.

The Boundless paintings were originally conceived to convey the potency of Boundlessness in meta-physical terms, yet with each passing season, powerful forces of nature are multiplying in tandem with our compromised natural environment, offering a palpable touchstone of the seismic shift in our actual physical place within this universe, inextricably linking the part we play now, and in all and future ways. 

Marian Wihak
September  2009