Empty House

Muse

Psychic Carnivale I

Psychic Carnivale II

Sanctuary
Artist Statement
These mixed media “drawing/paintings” find their roots in the exploration of unconscious images.

That” inner landscape” of the  human soul where the boundaries of reality seemingly merge with the uncontrollable “netherworld” of dreams, visions, and nightmares.

Executed in pen and ink, as well as pulverized graphite, oil paints, oil sticks, pastels, charcoal and collage on both canvas and paper, the intention is to leave space for the viewer  to individually engage, seeing or not seeing in relation to their own imagined perceptions of the images before them.

Website
http://sparrenbergerstudio.com/

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August Morning

What Light Will Do

The Yellow Steps

Stunned By What She Saw

Filibuster Baby

Artist Statement
My motto is be humble and stay busy, so I’m always working on either my poetry or art. I go to my studio every day. Going every day means I’m always a little bit ready. And I do something creative every day. I think of myself as a maker, stopping and starting within a constant stream of activity.

When I’m working on a painting, I never look at what’s come before, so that I can start each piece fresh. This allows me to sometimes make great mental leaps, to change my thinking in surprising ways.

My work serves as a kind of journal, a reminder of how I was thinking at a particular stage of my life. For that reason, I seldom change pieces once I decide that they are done. Through my series of brownstone and doll paintings I explore what light does to color, and our often hidden emotional landscapes.

Website
http://www.joannemcfarland.com/

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Maybe This Will Stop The Tide,   18” x 20”,   oil on linen,  2010

Relative Safety, 18” x 20”,   oil on linen,  2010

They Stood Their Ground, 42″ x 60″,   oil on canvas,  2010

Warehouse Waiting Game, 48″ x 60″, oil on canvas,  2010

No Swimming, 42″ x 48″, oil on canvas, 2010

Artist’s Statement

The people in my paintings are unsettled.  They perch on rooftops, power lines, and fire escapes, inhabiting dreamlike, imaginary cities. Expectations cloud their vision, and, like people in a magical realist novel, they unquestioningly accept the absurd as normal.

Although I use the visual language of a perceptual painter, I mainly work from memories, filtering experiences and bits of autobiography into invented scenarios that would be unlikely, if not impossible, in the real world.  Maintaining an element of fiction is important to me because I am trying to describe psychological places, where characters’ inner worlds shape the physical space and architecture around them. For me, the illogical situations my characters find themselves in embody the frustration of not being able to see clearly.

I work mainly from my imagination; with the help of mirrors, studies from life, and photographs. I usually start with an improvised drawing, through which the imagery evolves organically and spontaneously. The drawings suggest a loose narrative for the paintings – not a sequential story, but a series of related vignettes about the same or similar characters.

Contact

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