"Liminal Space is the space between what was and what will be. It is a threshold space, a transformative space, or a transitional space. Liminal Space is the waiting between one point in time and space and the next. Richard Rohr notes: “In liminal space we have the feeling of just being on the verge of something.” This body of work is part of the what I refer to as the liminal space series; the series is numbered, and in some cases the individual paintings are titled. It is inspired by celebrations, challenges, healing, and “being on the verge of something”.
I began this series in the time of COVID and unrelated losses of loved ones. The layering of our experiences from the past to the present makes each of us unique. A line from a poem by Mary Oliver captures this sense of wonder: “Of all the reasons for gladness what could be foremost of this one, that the mind can seize both the instant and the memory.” My layering includes being a husband, a father, a grandfather, a railroad brakeman, a commercial fisherman, a carpenter, an art professor, a college administrator, and always a painter.
The painted landscapes are abstracted by the layering of planes, the landscape elements transitioning from one plane to the next, the transparencies, and backgrounds sitting on top of foregrounds. The layering of perspective planes becomes a measuring of time and space, like growth rings of a tree. I use trees and landscape because they are a universally understood form upon which I can build with planes and lines of structure.
The lines are present to structure the landscape environment without disrupting it and to generate another organizing force within the space of the painting. (At Purdue, after studying engineering, I turned to painting.)
When I began this series, I realized that the focus of my painting shifted from being a representation of an experience such as a still life or birds to the painting as an experience."     Bernard Palchick