The Electricity of Silence

"The space between/the bullets in our firefight/is where I'll be hiding, waiting for you." -Dave Matthews

Marriage reveals a fascinating corollary of domestic life: A house becomes as large or small as the dynamics of communication allow. Untitled (woman, man, couch) by Michele Bosak speaks poignantly, no captions necessary, of the electricity of silence. It isn’t only what we know that strikes a chord; moreover, it is what we don’t know that draws us into the awkward, tension-charged scene depicted over a sea of muted blue tones. Who is speaking? Who is listening? Or is body language the only dialect that matters? But the power is also in the medium, of course. Encaustic painting, an elaborate, time-honored process that employs pigmented hot wax as its primary element, appropriately underscores the ever-present burn hazard of sharing your space with another. Life is perplexing; married life is downright confounding at times. It helps to be reminded that the “big picture” not only contains the little moments, but also magnificently transcends them.

Visit Michele Bozak's Etsy shop Mimi to view her collection.