Composition: Books, 1980
My models are ordinary pieces of paper and notebooks that I happen upon, in my studio or anywhere. Perhaps I find the paper folded or torn, the notebooks open or closed, but each contains a mystery for me and becomes the raw material for a still-life.
I have often been asked if my work is carefully scaled and premeditated. On the contrary. To begin, I make only a rough sketch for composition, but the image is developed as I work and build up the layers of paint.
Pages upon which nothing is yet written speak to me; their blankness anticipates a beginning. And in their stillness, I find a place for meditation.
(Li-lan portrait by Anne Sager)