One of the first things that come to mind when using wax as a medium is that it brings multiple perspectives to the imagery. Layers of wax are like pieces of energy that are piled on top of the core image, which is the sketch itself. The very first movement on the canvas is the sketch, painted in black oil thinned with turpentine. The sketch is lucid, free flowing and bold, it defines the concept, the direction of the intent. Because the dark lines of the sketch are painted over and over with thick white gesso and layers of melted wax, a series of concepts arise, giving way to new perspectives.

The first concept is that the image wants to know more about itself. Layers of wax that are brushed on the canvas are unpredictable texture -wise. This spontaneous creation is the idea of random perfection. The artist here does not control exactly how the wax will cover the canvas. In the beginning, the wax is in liquid form, allowing it to adhere to the cotton fibers of the canvas in multiple ways, sometimes with air pockets of bubbles, other times with deep crevices where the pigment of the oils concentrates and sometimes it accumulates in lumps, dense and hardened. With all these variables, the image then takes on a story of its own, enriching the first intent the artist hand in mind. Whenever a medium is not controlled, it is willing and free to create itself, lending to the depth of emotion the viewer can cognize. Layer over layer of information is directed towards the overall intent. What happens is a moving or stirring of feelings, igniting the viewer’s imagination to something relative or completely new.

The second concept is vulnerability. Wax is then scraped away allowing the raw canvas to show through, called ‘abstract deconstruction.’ This creates a vulnerability that is powerful. Since the medium is then taken away in parts and left in other parts, certain information can be conveyed, leaving the viewer with a sense of a time line. The process, another words, can be seen clearly. When we see how something has been worn away or sliced away or discarded, we are allowed to feel the vulnerability. The image is being authentic, creating itself in front of the viewer’s eyes, showing how it came into being and is constantly becoming itself. 

Texture of the painting is what brings the third concept to life; texture equals movement. Even though this is two dimensional art, movement can be felt. Layers of emotion are the tones of pigment used along with wax, together creating texture. These deconstructive, encaustic paintings are meant to be touched causing another dimension of the image. Through the tactile sense, these paintings feel smooth and rough in parts. The paintings themselves are static, but to be static in the first place there has to be friction, here, being layers of energized wax. The painting’s surface can be felt with the fingertips, going over the crevices and bumps, sending a palatable experience to the brain. Inside this experience of feeling, texture is movement.  Also, the random scraping away of wax and oils is a deconstructive process. It too is spontaneous, not completely controlled by the hands of the artist. ‘Abstract deconstruction’ has been compared to being ‘static’, as in electricity being built up by friction and then releasing a shock. All at once, the image appears still and silent, static if you will, from raw canvas to scraped away particles, to texture build up and finally release of intent, making the piece of art move as a whole.

Encaustic art has been around for many years in of the history of art and it has been developed creatively in countless ways. In this particular style, ‘abstract deconstruction’, the artist finds the subtraction of the wax alongside the layering of wax to speak volumes. The emotional content arrives first, as abstract in form and leaves the viewer with a sense of knowing.