The New World canvases began as an attempt to ask what the folk horror format would look like if it were turned toward something generative rather than dread-adjacent. Same 42 × 42 cm, same oil on board, but the palette runs warmer — ochres, raw siennas, occasional cadmium — and the imagery is oriented toward open ground rather than closed or watched space.
Whether this works is still unclear. Some of the collages feel like they belong to the same project as Folk Horror but were made in a different mood. Others seem to be starting a separate conversation.
These notes are a record of the uncertainty.
What’s working:
- The warm ground layer establishes a different relationship between light and shadow
- The square format continues to prevent panoramic thinking, which is useful
What isn’t:
- The imagery is less specific than in Folk Horror, which might mean less pressure, or might mean insufficient source material
- The title New World is provisional and possibly misleading