Artist's Statement |
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This series of paintings explores how we experience and construct landscape. The images draw us in by using Romantic elements of the infinite and sublime. As nostalgic echoes of the idealized landscape fall away we encounter a confusing, fragmented panorama where the filmic collapse of time, space and narrative takes center stage. We are forced to navigate a site of shifting elements, tension and instability.
The bleak portrayal of a desolate, arctic site signals a shift from the hope and promise of traditional and Romantic landscapes. An unsettling sense of disorientation and loss is furthered by constantly shifting views and a tenuous lighting emitted from the viewer’s position. We are barred from searching out hope on the horizons as the light rapidly drops off into the infinite unknown. An ominous, threatening mood lingers on the edges of our vision. This fractured vision of landscape lacks human markings or other indicators of scale. As a result, we are doubtful we belong in these places and the potentiality of landscape is diminished by our exclusion. As we struggle to position ourselves in this collapsing space we face a disappointing realization- there is no conclusive image, no grand answer in this landscape. This uncertain engagement with landscape mimics the contemporary world where images and vision are always in flux. |