Entanglement

Entanglement, 2024 a : the action being entangled: a state of being entangled b : something that entangles, confuses, or ensnares c : the condition of being deeply involved   2020, right then and there during the first months of the pandemic my friend and colleague Danae Mattes and I began to explore a collaborative project for four voices with Monica Scott, cellist and composer, and Sylvia Brownrigg, novelist and literary critic. Over the following years we presented our findings during life performances at the Dresher Ensemble Studio in Oakland, the Marsh Theater, Berkeley, the Museum of Caft and Design, San Francisco, all 2022. After a 2 week long residency at Montalvo in the spring, we were now, in late 2023, preparing a mayor installation project "Lightfast: intertwine" at the DiRosa Center for Contemporary Art. Please visit our LightFast   This group of paintings circle around a uniquely looking bush I had found in a secret garden above Inverness on Point Reyes in 2020. Three years later, during my residency at Montalvo I had an early morning sighting of yet another Wych Hazel … dancing in a clearing in misty sun light. The bush was bend and worn - all elbows and knees - so full of life and resilient energy that it inspired me to translate my vision into drawings, experimental film footage, a handmade book and finally paintings. I had four wooden panels ready to go and applied the entangling lines with a quick brush work technic. It was one of those exquisite moments were play and intuition come together with unexpected ease. For sure, I had been deeply involved.   Christel Dillbohner, Berkeley, CA, 2024