Traces from Within
- Diana Sare
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
This painting emerged through tension rather than intention — through accumulation, resistance, and gradual release.
The surface carried weight for a long time. Layers insisted on staying, lines crossed and recrossed, gestures entangled instead of resolving. At moments, the painting felt almost over-determined, dense to the point of breathlessness. And yet, within that density, something slowly began to loosen.
What mattered was not clarity, but coherence.
Not direction, but rhythm.
The work developed through repetition and interruption: advancing, stepping back, letting it rest, and returning again. Each pause subtly shifted the painting’s internal balance. What initially appeared chaotic gradually revealed an inner logic — a fragile equilibrium between control and surrender.
From the beginning, I deliberately chose colors I do not naturally like — brownish, ochre, reddish, and black tones. They resist beautification. Rather than creating comfort, they carry weight and density, grounding the work in something more raw and physical. The painting did not ask to be made pleasant, but to remain honest.
Through this process, a dense network of intertwined forms emerged — traces that resemble roots, knots, or internal structures. When I look at the painting, I recognize them as the marks of lived experience. They are not necessarily beautiful or resolved, yet they form the structure of who I am today. The work does not attempt to repair or idealize what has been lived, but to acknowledge how difficulty becomes formative.
At one stage, I repeatedly attempted to introduce a circular form, searching for resolution. I painted the circle separately and moved it across the surface for days. Yet the painting persistently resisted this intervention, as if it could not accept a form imposed from outside. The circle suggested closure, while the work demanded openness. When it became clear that nothing more needed to be added, the absence of the circle revealed the direction of the piece, and the title Traces from Within became inevitable.
There is movement here, but it is not linear.
There is force, but also vulnerability.
At a certain point, the painting did not ask to be explained or corrected. It simply asked to be left as it was — carrying its own tension, its own breath.
Writing this marks the end of my involvement.
Traces from Within is now free to exist on its own.
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