Minima Moralia

Authors

Casey Fuller

Abstract

I love words. Words are totally amazing. Words allude, cordon off, cordon in, exfoliate, and blossom. And words are just so strange. The meaning in words can change over, their footprints marking you with their history. And yet, one conclusion I’ve come to as an English PhD student at the University of North Dakota, as a person who lives and breathes and teaches words every day, is that words can’t express all of my feelings. It’s a sad notion for me—one that I’ve tried to deny. So, as an English PhD student who is far enough along in his studies to spend his time studying books for a comprehensive exam, along with my notes and timelines and essays, I decided to create a postcard- sized painting for each book in my comprehensive exam. These postcard paintings are a sample. Each painting is 3 inches by 5 inches and uses watercolor, ink, or watercolor and ink together. Each painting, also, takes its title (publication year included) from the book it’s inspired by. They’re all on paper. The composition of these small paintings attempts to deploy the technique used by Helen Frankenthaler, where the frame of the painting Three Paintings is brought to the painting after the painting is complete; that is, the painting is meant to be free, explore, roam around a bit in a mess, and the frame is brought in as a way to focus the mess in a way where the composition best resonates. Ultimately, my hope is that these paintings say something about each of the texts that I can’t quite say with words.

Recommended Citation

Fuller, Casey (2024) "Minima Moralia," Floodwall Magazine: Vol. 2: Iss. 9, Article 48.
Available at: https://commons.und.edu/floodwall-magazine/vol2/iss9/48