Loss and
Memory
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Loss and Memory
The subject matter of this new body of work consists of variations of three objects that my recently deceased husband, Seymour, and I collected during our travels over the years. They were selected for paintings, because their forms appealed to me. However, as I created the works, I began to realize that they also were a memorial to Seymour.
The Peruvian Marriage Cup clearly alludes to marriage. Most views of the Spanish chocolate cup are iconic, like a vessel for an ancient tribute offering. The bird-in-flight images are, for me, a metaphor for death and departure.
The exhibition title was chosen because of the strong feelings of bereavement I experienced while painting them, as well as for the observations of viewers who knew of Seymour’s death and those who did not.
Although there is only one image to a work it is carefully composed. Attention is given to the placement of the object in relationship to the viewer. Severe cropping creates a sense of immediacy. Careful lighting creates strong contrasts of light and shadow, which define the forms and produce dramatic changes in value.
The red chocolate cup is a reproduction from a 17th century still-life painting by Juan van der Hamen y Leon. It’s scale, frontal position and eye level placement lend it an iconic feeling. The color and shape evoke associations of a heart and blood. The cups with dark backgrounds and luminescence beneath them seem to be on a sacrificial pyre. The small versions of these cups are more intimate; and therefore allude to personal memories. They also explore different placements of the object.
The marriage cup is from the pre-Columbian, Chimú culture of northern Peru. Some vessels are placed frontally; but several are turned at an angle in order to create a more dynamic feeling. Several paintings deal with the effects of different colors in the background and in the highlights.
The paintings of the bird are based on an Eskimo sculpture made of whalebone. One of the challenges with these works was to present the bird so that the viewer perceives it as flying off into space. Therefore its differentiation, placement and size are important. Another consideration was to choose between a realistic image of a bird and an accurate representation of the sculptural model, which is quite clunky, and therefore does not look as though it can fly.