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VUE | Summer 2016

The Digest | New Jersey Magazine

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gears and so I started dabbling back into painting on a polyester screen. I noticed this effect/frequency three years ago and I thought it was interesting but I want to have a reason to use it. And finally, in these paintings, there's a reason. It has this effect of adding this energy to the piece. How did you come up with the title for "Frequency"? The term "frequency" is speaking to the frequencies of light. Painting itself boils down to seeing, you're seeing frequencies, different frequencies that reflect off of the different colors so that we understand the world we see. I'm fascinated by astrophysics, by this simple and grand notion of "how did we get here?" Where do we exist in time and space? You get into all these philosophical, monstrous questions, and to me, it all boils down to the moment. The moment right here, right now is a gift. To be able to have conscious thought, to be able to change the direction of what you do. We are a bunch of atoms that knows it's a bunch of atoms. Whereas the wall doesn't know that, a dog doesn't know that, etc. We are really lucky to live on this little, as Carl Sagan calls it, pale blue dot, that's not too close to the sun and not too far away. It's really amazing, to have life as we know it. You talk about "Frequency" as it relates to moments in life. What moments in your life do you draw on for inspiration? Absolutely, and I haven't thought about this in a long time. I think it was fifth grade, in science class, where I went to school in Phoenix, Arizona. They had a planetarium, and the ceiling was a dome projected these constellations. Probably 12 or 13 feet high. In my mind, in my very naive mind, I then thought that all of the stars in the sky existed on a plane around the earth. That they were all the same level so to speak, so I thought, "Boy, I'd love to get in a spaceship and go to where the stars are." Then I thought there must be some sort of barrier, but then I thought if I broke through that barrier what would be there? Would there be nothing? That's weird. And from that moment I was fascinated by space. Where does it end? And we're still wondering. [Laughs.] An ongoing influence in my work and in my life is looking at clouds. From magnificent thunderheads to little wispy clouds, the formations that occur and the light, and the fact that it's always changing. Which boils back to another thing that fascinates me, the idea that the truth is always changing. The paradigm of what mankind collectively knows is constantly evolving. That's the beauty of this existence. Casselman has four upcoming shows; Mark Borghi Fine Art in Bridgehampton opening July 2nd, Scott White Contemporary Art in San Diego November 6th, and Gazelli Art House London April 26, 2017 VUE ON LIFESTYLE V U E N J . C O M 74

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