In the Gloaming, 2014. Mixed media on paper.
50 x 42 inches. Private collection.
I’ll be showing a small but new and unusual body of work this summer--my first ever with very few purely monochromatic images. there’s at least a bit of color in just about everything that will be on display, in mediums ranging from my favored charcoal to pastel, graphite, gouache, ink, and encaustic.
Specific dates and times (and more images) to come! For now, here’s my statement for this body of work:
Afterglow represents an exploration of an inner wilderness by way of an outer one; these images—and all my work—hinge on my belief that the natural world is not only an inherent part of us as human beings (and we of it), but that it is the original, exquisitely sensitive mirror in which we find our own inner terrain and wildness reflected. This body of work represents a subtle shift on this front; from my artistic origins in a monochromatic world of quiet mystery, I have emerged into one of color and fleeting light. My planned compositions have given way to spontaneity and exploration, followed by a careful cultivation of my findings. I have always had an interest in balance and intrinsic order, but now my process has become one of watching this order emerge naturally, as a complement to controlled design.
This is reflected in both my process—through the integration of abstract and figurative elements—and my subject matter. I have a great love for ephemeral, fleeting things. The flutter of a heartbeat, the quickly fading dusk, the moments of connection that are both sacred and brief. Our existence depends completely upon this delicate web—one we have often have a tendency to ignore or upset. Finding honeybees dying on my steps or in the jasmine blossoms leaves me with a palpable sense of loss and premonition. I find it oddly poignant that our survival may well depend on a creature as beautiful and unassuming as the honeybee.
My work has always been an act of reverence for the natural world. There is an element of science in it, in the desire to study and observe. But there is an element of spirit, too, in the continual reaching for something just beyond the visible. I strive to carve out a compelling space in which those peripheral presences can stand forth—a liminal place where our human impulse to judge and hierarchize is quieted, where a natural way of seeing floats quietly to the surface of our hyper-stimulated minds.
When:
Mid July
Where:
Lora Schleshinger Gallery
Bergamot Station
2525 Michigan Avenue, Unit B5b
Santa Monica, CA 90404
(310) 828-1133
Hours: Tue - Fri, 10am - 5:30pm PST
Sat 11am - 5:30pm PST