Title
Creation Date
2016
Preview
Medium
thread, wool yarn, paper, hair, ink, oil and acrylic on canvas
Description
Dimensions: 7 x 5 feet
Rights
© Stephanie Winters-Falk, 2016. Photo Credit: Allison Corona.
Keywords
memory, layering, painting, connections, mixed media, self portrait
Artist Statement
Human beings exist in a vast web of sensory experiences and the action to retain or dismiss information is an inherent function of the mind; the process of keep or discard carries on without our active approval. Life provides us with limitless events and the desire to capture these visual, textural, scent or sound moments is strong. Memories are an incomplete business, for all our efforts, we will never be there, see it, feel it or hear it the same way twice.
I am interested in exploring ideas associated with the functions of human memory and the various connections we form to objects, as aids to recall subjective content. In this body of work I am exploring these ideas through a mixed media approach that represents a visual collection of moments: gathered, arranged, protected, lost, remembered and reinterpreted. I used materials such as paint, yarn, thread, hair and organic material to test ideas. Content is developed through careful consideration of scale, color, stitching, tearing, layering and the presence of hand. The mixing of art with non-art materials aids in the evolution of my ideas through chance and intended outcomes. Strings act not only as connective structures but represent loss or direct connections to thoughts as well. Communication takes many forms. I believe visual structures have the capacity to relay meaning universally when posed in comparison to our bodies, which is a driver for the large scale of this work.
I’ve looked to Expressionist philosophies, which express emotion as the primary source of visual experience and considered this in my material manipulation. The ephemeral quality of memory is expressed in a material language developed in the construction of this piece. This exploration provides space for a visual discussion of memory through use and absence of material.