Mandy Rogers Horton: Artist Statement

Luminous Things
Recent paintings 2006-2007

Painting is a language through which to communicate, contemplate, and better understand the world and my place in it.

Coming out of a series of figurative works, I was curious to explore the process of painting without forcing the works toward a representational end; not to copy life or illustrate particular objects, but to practice a flexible vision and explore new solutions. Most of the works began in response to familiar objects such as clothing that lend themselves toward multiple interpretations and often carry a figurative reference. Consistent with previous works, the textures are vital and varied, exploring the range of the material as well as of our tactile responses. Thin to thick, flawless to flawed, they are inviting and curious like skin and scars.

Employing a dominant field of white also became central. White acts both as a revealed foundation as well as a forgiving blind. At times, it seems to reclaim the canvas, leaving ghost textures to tell its history. In other instances, the white references a purity or newness juxtaposed to the rough, scarred or scabbed forms. This is akin to the daily coexistence of contrasts such as order and disorder, pain and joy; akin to the strangeness of watching reports of violence from a comfortable couch. The white also provides a contemplative space distanced from the every day. White seems the appropriate non-color of our technological culture. Inherently neither good nor bad, ours is a world reliant on wires and airwaves to transmit disembodied voices, words and information. We travel thousands of miles by air without connection to the browns and greens of the landscape. White seems the conceptual backdrop for our enlightened and ungrounded times.

Imperfect, vital, tactile…