ProtoNext
Completed September 2015
ProtoNext is a chain reaction of small paintings—160 five-inch squares—each one riffing on the last. Born from my Meditations studies, the “prototype” becomes the point: ideas evolve in public, not behind a curtain. Small, affordable, and meant to be lived with now—not “someday.”
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This series started as a conversation about access: if art is for everyone, how do we make that real? My answer was to work small, work often, and show the thinking. ProtoNext takes the prototype—the test, the try—and treats it as the artwork.
Each piece is a five-inch acrylic square that talks to the one before it. A color echoes, a gesture mutates, a composition repeats and then misbehaves. It’s a paint version of telephone: the message travels, changes, and occasionally surprises itself. Successful moves carry forward; others bow out gracefully. The studio rule is simple—make the next thing, then make the next next thing.
The format keeps the stakes human and the price approachable. Pick one, start a grid, trade as your taste shifts—these are artworks you can rearrange like a playlist. Prototype = first step. Next = momentum.
At heart, ProtoNext is an invitation: come into the process, own a piece of its evolution, and let a wall grow over time. Art shouldn’t require a vault or a vow—just curiosity and a little space.