Deanna Lee
Land scape
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW wood-grain pattern of its support panel . I begin by tracing the grain of the panel , I coat the panel with an opaque field of paint , and then I transfer the grain pattern back onto the panel . Throughout the painting process , the visual information of the grain pattern is one element in a set of relationships among color , shape , scale , value , and rhythm , which are all intuitively determined . The final image may have been altered substantially from the original source or not much at all ; my goal is to make a good painting from the ingredients that I ’ ve somewhat randomly put together . Reliable sources of inspiration are nature subjects , sometimes at a microscopic or macroscopic scale but not always . Trees , water , and clouds are endlessly intriguing to me .
As you remarked once , your work addresses the subjective experience of forms made by natural forces : your images seem to be defined by your sense for abstract , intangible qualities , and we find your ability to provide them with an almost tactile character really captivating . How do you view the concepts of the real and the imagined playing out within your works ? In particular , is it important for you that the viewers attempt to recognize traces of reality and the previous life of the materials you combine ?
I perceive analogies between natural forms and psychological states , and in my work I strive to delineate the emotional resonance that I see in forms created by natural forces . While my work draws upon on my imagination , I think it also employs a more indexical and analytical approach , of taking existing visual information and manipulating it in order to understand its significance , for myself if for no one else . I think that a work has greater meaning if the viewer does recognize the seeds of the work ’ s development , to any degree , but my work ultimately concerns processes of transformation and can be successful if it conveys an aesthetic experience that is independent of its history or genealogy .
Your approach is hallmarked by a hybrid combination between abstraction and explicit reminders of everyday life : as you have remarked in your artist ' s statement , you use tracings and rubbings of surfaces to record the residue of growth , change , and decay in ceilings , walls , and floors . This aspect of your approach reminds us of ideas attributed to Thomas Demand , that art can no longer rely much on symbolic strategies and has to probe psychological narrative elements within the medium . While conceiving that art