SHADOW CIRCUS
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| It's slowly getting there!! |
It is finally here!! I can't believe it! It is exciting to finally see all the work Lorraine Glessner (Lori) and I have been building in the same space! In the past blogs I have focused on how I was preparing for the show, not knowing what Lori had in store. She and I have had dual exhibitions together and I was confident that our work would compliment each other. While my work is narrative and Lori's is abstract, both require the viewer to explore the work for their own truth.
This week's blog is going to focus on Lori's amazing, fantabulous encaustic paintings. According to Lori, she uses "satellite-imaging software to study how the grid organizes, divides, connects and interlaces life. The graphic patterns of community borders, urban grids, suburban development clusters and sinuous superhighways create amazing graphic patterns that inspire" her work.
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Lori continues, "Yet, as sprawl continues to scourge, cut and form the earth’s surface, working with, as well as against its natural tendencies, it leaves a strikingly beautiful as well as horrifying mark." As a viewer one can easily get lost in these opposing forces, finding beauty in the erosion and a softness in the harshest marks.
Lori creates a sensuous depth through patterns and layers of encaustic with hair, silk and cotton fabric, beeswax, fire, rust and plant staining. All these elements "speak to and embody life and life cycles." Although one can feel as though they are sinking into another world, Lori's patterns and grids help to keep one grounded and prevent the viewer from being engulfed in an organic abstraction.
It is difficult for pictures to adequately convey the lusciousness of Lori's encaustic work. I have tried to take some close-ups to help, but you have to see them in person to really appreciate the visual and conceptual depth. You will have the opportunity to do just that starting this Saturday at the opening of Shadow Circus. I invite you to dive in! The water's fine!
