Fragments

Memory is a powerful tool which can be used to either recall or reshape the past. It allows you to transcend time and space, returning back to specific moments. Even so, memory is distorted by time, creating a hazy almost blurred effect within one’s mind. My work is centered around the passage of time, memory, nostalgia, and the distortion of past self. By utilizing the medium of oil paint, I am able to investigate this topic in a visual manner tying stylistic choice to concept through brushstroke technique.

Fragments is a compilation of both multipaneled works, which explore assemblage and fragmentation, as well as colorful pixelated pieces, which explore nostalgia. This work utilizes greyscale, commenting on our photographic past to depict a series of self-portraits as well as figures relating to my childhood. Each of my panels make up multiple compositions which can be distorted through rotation or rearrangement. These works are interchangeable and additive, working as individual versions as well as larger displays while my other more colorful pieces stand alone or as a series. Technical aspects of this series such as brushwork, material, and color choice work to strengthen these themes. Painting each figure utilizing thick and distinct brushstrokes creates a sharp image mirroring clear and distinct memories. When my panels are pieced together according to their own composition, they act as a puzzle creating a visible and sharp image. When each composition is rearranged and merged together, individual panels remain clear but the work as a whole is changed, obscure. The artwork becomes blurred, an amalgamation of the past.

The square motif repeated throughout my work mimics pixilated photo galleries and online collections of the past. The squares work to push my theme farther and comment on how digital representations as well as physical photographs have played a large part in shaping our own memories. Multiple square panels also work to show facets of the physical figure, displaying who we are is often made up of many different experiences. We have layers.

Even though our memories are structured within our heads, they are always constantly shifting with the passage of time and being remembered differently. Capturing fragments of them through oil paint creates a physical representation, allowing you to be transported back in time and reflect and gain a greater understanding of that moment.