Dark Plexus VI, 1994
Oil on canvas
84 ¼ x 72 x 1 ¼ inches
Collection of the Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi
2003.12.5

Painted later in her career, Dark Plexus VI is a stunning example of Hood’s mature style.  At the forefront of this image is her facility with decalcomania, the process of creating textures on the surface of the canvas by pressing the wet paint between two surfaces and removing the top layer. And, although she never spoke about her process, it is apparent in paintings like Dark Plexus VI, Hood masterfully utilized various chemicals to create the swirls and gradations of color as seen in the lower area of red.

In Dark Plexus VI, Hood’s continued preoccupation with the themes of space, nature, the void, and the sea coalesce into a singular masterpiece.  Hood’s delicate but sure white line is the tether between the expansive deep space and a chaotic chasm.  Cryptic and sublime, Hood simultaneously summoned the collisions of galaxies and the quiet of deep space or the fathoms of the sea, while metaphorically alluding to the complexity of human emotions.