Ten Feet Under and Upside Down / Cupcakes Across America
- August 22 - October 4, 2013
- Reception Thursday August 29, 2013 at 5:30 pm
- Artist Talk at 6:00 pm: Deborah Barr-Brayman
Artist Statement
My new work references old photographs of clowns from 1890 to the 1940’s. A clown can be ridiculous, pathetic, and demonic, even challenging morality. Clowns make parody of seriousness within a given culture, turning the world and how we perceive it ~ upside down. They represent the paradox between hope and tragedy; the known and unknown; vulnerability and victory; laughter and sorrow.
In his poem The Layers - Stanley Kunitz states “I have walked through many lives, some of them my own, and I am not who I was, though some principle of being abides......” Within each clowns expression lies a personal history, an expression of the human condition; now and then. The schematics of children imply any child, any race, past present or future. My intention in my creative process is to catch attention by creating a visual dialog that the viewer can intimately identify with.
The clowns are drawn on mylar, acting as a reminder that drawing is the foundation of painting, while the resin creates layers where the images are suspended in space. Oil paint and silver dust rearrange the old image in a new way, while drips and colored lines, textures and transparencies encourage discovery. A discovery of some principle.
Updated: May 30, 2023