Sunday, August 15, 2010

"Works of Fiction" Artist Statement

This body of work which incorporates the photographic image along with various sculptural and recycled materials to create 3-dimensional tableaus is a response to the notion that everything an artist creates is somehow born out of some deep dark life experience. I've heard it said and I've said myself that all artwork is in some way a "self-portrait". I spent many years operating from this premise, telling my own story, working through the timeline of my life from adolescent angst, through the trauma of being female, to my new experience of adolescent angst in my own children. My artistic production laid bare the story of my life...and then I was tired of me. But I had learned some things along the way, about myself, about art, about materials and process, but most significant are the things I learned about storytelling. A well-told story can be very seductive, it can evoke excitement, sadness, or even absolute repulsion whether it's a memoir or complete fiction. I also learned that I have a capacity for storytelling. It's amazing the world of possibility that opened up for me once I realized that I could tell any story it didn't have to be my own. When I discovered that I could create "Works of Fiction".