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As a painter, I am continually fascinated by the alchemy of paint.
I am amazed by the range of expression that can be communicated by the medium of paint on canvas.
My painting process allows for a lot of spontaneity in both paint handling and color. I begin a painting with a basic concept...
and then I wander through many stages of paint action and destruction before arriving at a finish that feels wholly resolved.
In the summer of 1983, I attended my husband’s 20th high school reunion. I was intrigued by the exaggerated poses,
hairdos, and draped shoulders of the women in the 1963 year book photos. The photos told such a story of the people and the time,
both individually and collectively. This reunion inspired my Class Photo Series. I began painting single “class photos” which evolved
into grids of heads. The tension of repetition, and the individual portrait vs the grid of the whole still interests me today.
Painting emotional portraits rather than ones depicting a visual likeness is a challenge in the single heads as well as in the relationships
of the multiples. Over the years I have created a vocabulary of elements for this work. I am often asked about the “x”ed out heads.
Emotionally this might evoke the x-boyfriend or x-best friend...or even death. Graphically, I like the way the x voids or holds the space in the grid. |
