STATEMENTS
THE SHAKTI SERIES
The Spy in Oaxaca [Amy Greenfield] — 60 X 60 — acrylic on canvas
Shakti is Sanskrit for the divine, female force of creation. I began the Shakti Series in 1996 after a trip to Tibet, Nepal and India. The essence of the work is light and pattern. The paintings are built of layers of color which create a visual and energetic harmonic similar to a musical chord. The actual mark making is highly spontaneous and energetic but curiously, as the layers build, the effect quiets and becomes meditative.
For many years I have titled these paintings with fragments of text- from authors, poets, songwriters and artists. I extract a few words that exclude content or narrative but suggest visceral experience. This open-ended experiential quality of the titles reflects the work and allows the viewer interpretive freedom.
THE TEXT SERIES
Whatever was lost [Rumi] — 60 X 60 — acrylic on canvas
The text that inspired and then identified the work by title, finally entered the work itself and became the content. Structured by a grid format, the unadorned letterforms contribute to a layer of patterning within the painting. This formal, abstract arrangement of letters is emphasized by running the words together so that the content is not easily discerned. It is important to me that the text is first perceived as part of a painting and secondarily, as words.
The words however do matter. Culled from various sources and cultures, the text fragments express values, ideas and beliefs which are resonant to me with literal and metaphoric depth.
THE DRIP AND POUR SERIES
Santorini — 60 X 60 — acrylic on canvas
This group of paintings may or may not have text. They are a direct result of process becoming purpose. The drips that occurred in different paintings ‘grew’ until they became larger and larger forms- almost figures. After experimentation with different paint and mediums, I began pouring paint directly on the flat canvas and then maneuvering it to direct the flow. This is an extremely inexact process- intuitive, risky, spontaneous, surprising, exciting, shocking- and sometimes awful- requiring yet another intuitive risky spontaneous… pour. And so it goes.
The paintings have a diaphanous quality; the feeling IS the content.
GRID SERIES [LEELA]
Throughout my career, I have always made collages. Some large work I was ‘done with’ and decided to cut up- and then work the fragments. I often added another medium. Some collages I made from found objects and papers collected on international trips- or on walks in the woods, like a broken chain on a trail…some were made solely of broken glass which I never broke again- just used it as it was, some were made of buttons or money- or antique postcards or cleaner tags. I used dryer lint and dog hair and flowers- and leaves which dried and fractured apart over time. I cut rubber blocks to print with and used ready-made Indian wooden ones. I sewed on paper- I used commercial advertising memorabilia and torn pockets and old wrapping paper and Japanese shop bags and vintage wallpaper. I used and will use just about anything.
My grid work is collaged, painted, encausticed and printed. It is on paper and canvas and masonite. I began this over 30 years ago and am still at it.
I call this the Leela series. Leela is Sanskrit for divine play. In the Hindu tradition, it describes the dynamic creative force behind the ever-changing illusion of this world of matter. Leela is the headwater of the rushing, tumbling compelling river- Leela is behind the ride of our lives.
TEXT FROM– SHE SAID I AM [JANA HARRIS]
She Said I Am — 60 X 60 — acrylic on canvas
She said I am the fish
She said I am the loon
She said I am the wolf
She said I am the night
She said I am the fog
She said I am the fire
She said I am the mountain
She said I am the power
She said I am the earth.
©1982 by Jana Harris
from Manhattan as a Second Language and Other Poems, Harper and Row, San Francisco
TEXT FROM THE SURFACE OF- SETTING THE RIVER ON FIRE [ROBERT LOWELL]
Setting the River on Fire [Robert Lowell] — 60 X 60 – acrylic on canvas
fire to blood
blood to bone
bone to marrow
marrow to ashes
ashes to snow
TEXT FROM- A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE III [GERTRUDE STEIN]
A Rose Triptych — Panel I — 60 X 60 — acrylic on canvas
Music of the Ghosts by Vaddey Ratner
A Rose Triptych — Panel III — 60 X 60 — acrylic on canvas
TEXT FROM- CRAZY BRAVE [JOY HARJO]
Crazy Brave lll- [Joy Harjo] – 60 X 60 – acrylic on canvas
where there are countless dawns breaking simultaneously