WORK: Titles from Excerpts: The Winding Cave

“He is perplexed. He finds before him five exits, all of which betray nothing but darkness beyond them. For the first time in several hours, he is stationary. This hub proves to be for him little different than a dead end.”

2010. Ink on paper. 9 x 6 in.

“He cannot see anything around him. This room is just too dark, and he suspects it is very large too. He is also concerned that he won’t be able to retrace his steps back to the preceding passageway.”

2010. Ink on paper. 9 x 6 in.

“The mine cart careens down the derelict shaft, and has been doing so for at least ten minutes. But without warning the tunnel now opens up into an immense chamber. There are torches trimming the walls and pillars. He has no time to ponder who could be keeping them alight, as all of a sudden a second set of rails curves over to him and proceeds to run alongside his track. Beside him now is another cart matching his speed. She is in it. He is so startled to see her that he hesitates to call out her name. She flickers in and out of sight several times as stone columns zip past between them, all the while their respective rails deftly sway from and to each other in order to narrowly avoid the obstructions. Only a few mere seconds have passed since she appeared, and she has not yet looked in his direction. He opens his mouth to call her, but just as her name passes his lips it is abruptly deflected by a craggy wall. He is alone and in a mine shaft again, torchlight fading behind him and nothing but darkness ahead.”

2010. Ink on paper. 9 x 6 in.

“The corridor is long and narrow, and gently inclines further down toward the depths of this extensive cavern. Despite the odd stalagmite and/or stalactite passing him by from time to time in the other direction, the passage is fairly monotonous. Like most places down here, colour seems to have been drained from the surrounds. What’s left behind is a ubiquitous dark and faded grey-brown. Even the deepest shadows are disappointingly dull. This is a boring passageway, and it seems to go on forever. There are no forks nor intersections, so he has no choice but to carry on in a straight line. Actually, he feels this is the perfect setting for self-reflection. But he finds it difficult to be truly introspective when she is on his mind.”

2010. Ink on paper. 9 x 6 in.

“He sits close to the ledge. Before him is a vast cavern littered with massive stalagmites, many of which are adorned with strange crystalline outcroppings. These crystal formations each emit an unusual coloured glow. Some radiate red, some green, but most orange or white. At first he assumes they are refracting light from some pure yet untraceable source, but he can’t reason where such illumination might come from. Besides, the limited colours present are too exclusive to be the result of refraction. Regardless of this causal mystery, what he sees is a beautiful sight – the first he has witnessed since coming here.”

2010. Ink on paper. 9 x 6 in.

“The lights twinkle. It is almost as if he is looking over a cityscape. But there is no life nor energy here. This stirs in him immense doubt. He does not believe that he will ever actually find her. Yet he is surprisingly unworried by this uncertainty of outcome. He misses her dearly, but in the next thought finds himself wondering if witnessing this spectacle alone right now is really worse than being together with her elsewhere in these otherwise sombre subterranean depths?”

2010. Ink on paper. 9 x 6 in.