I posses a deep appreciation for nature. In much the same way that paintings often elicit deep emotional responses in me, so to does the beauty of our natural world. I am greatly inspired by abstract landscape art and the way abstraction can conjure deep feelings in the viewer through the use of colour, shape, and lighting, evoking a deeper sense of a place. I try to bring this into my paintings, often using textures found in nature and playful expressive marks to add meaning, and feeling to the work. I experience a feeling of bodily acceptance when I feel connected to this idea of oneness with nature, when I consider how nature is held up to perfectionist standards, primped and preened or discarded as patches of unkempt overgrowth. It is here in these wild patches that I sense a kinship in our shared imperfections,; in the playful asymmetrical world of contrasts, spontaneous lines, and haphazard textures juxtapose a Fibonacci perfection. In this kinship, my flawed form feels perfectly imperfect, blood and suffering parts become primal and natural, at once released from their bonds to the grotesque.

I like to use paint and pattern in a dualistic manner, because I feel it lends a sense of honesty to the work, and I seek to reframe how we view aspects of our bodies. For example, pattern can be at once decorative, and visually appealing whilst calling to mind imperfections on the skin. I feel textures found in nature e.g. the lichen pattern as seen above are the perfect carrier of such meaning as the natural appeal of such patterns isn’t overwhelmed by any underlying sense of bodily flaw, the latter for me is elevated in my mind by the connection.

education

Stevie Marie