Employing a range of materials such as various paint media, transparent textiles, aluminum, copper, as well as sound vibration, I construct paintings, sculptures and installations that have evolved from silence. Rooted in a long-held daily contemplative practice and study, I allow this perspective to inform my studio practice. My work records relatively permanent moments in earthly time, offering passage to an intermediate space between the seen and unseen.

This body of work explores the ways in which subtle, ephemeral vibrations can be given form on a canvas, using energetically-charged paint to create fields of color, light, and texture. By directing audio into my raw materials, I capture the energetic imprint of specific sounds and texts, absorbing their vibration and distilling their qualities into the work.

I move fluidly through this practice, alternating between roles active and passive. Some works use the canvas as a vessel, filled with several gallons of paint, as audio is emitted on a continuous loop inside them, while collecting pigment that settles like sediment over extended periods of time.

Across Centuries and the Earth includes sacred Indian mantras from the Vedas and Upanishads, two of humanity’s most ancient bodies of knowledge into the work, as a way of honoring them as portals to a universal, aspiring consciousness.

I consider water’s properties and potential as foundational to this project. Modern investigations into water on a molecular level, most notably Dr. Masaru Emoto’s research finding that water is affected by and responds to consciousness, lies at the heart of this process.

AHAVANI MULLEN

AHAVANI MULLEN