RELICS OF MEMORY- Now showing at the MOAH Cedar
A place where the artist and (hopefully) the viewer are transported into another world. One in which time slows down and invite to meditation and introspection. https://www.facebook.com/events/1422837751370271/
Artist’ statement
I am a self taught artist who started doing art work in a systematic way five years ago in Lancaster CA. I started using acrylic on canvas, then moved to assemblage and last year I discovered “picote” . It’s a technique that uses an awl to punch tiny holes in paper to create different motifs.
My first encounter with “picote” was when I was a child in a Preschool in France. I was asked to pierce the paper according to a pattern of dots. That technique was called “picote”. Years later as I was looking at religious images of Christ I found an image from the 17th century using the same technique.
At the time I was very influenced by the art of Australian aborigenals painting dots and I was looking to a different way to use dots.
Also I was influenced by my aunt’s work as a seamstress in Paris after the 2nd World War.
My Venezuelan mother-in -law’s crochet, my mother’s needlework, my aunt’s sewing, all of this handwork has something in common with piercing holes.
I am fascinated by the austerity of the art form. I like punching holes with my awl, cutting paper and sewing sequences and beads to make complex compositions simply by inviting the light to create patterns through the holes. I enjoy the repetitive and Zen like nature of the technique which I associate with meditation. The absence of colors in most of them (white on white) invite shadow to play out on the surface in unique ways. This play between the light and dark gives depth to the work. There is a minimal amount of mediation
I enjoy working with low tech and having a direct relationship with the surface.
A place where the artist and (hopefully) the viewer are transported into another world. One in which time slows down and invite to meditation and introspection. https://www.facebook.com/events/1422837751370271/
Artist’ statement
I am a self taught artist who started doing art work in a systematic way five years ago in Lancaster CA. I started using acrylic on canvas, then moved to assemblage and last year I discovered “picote” . It’s a technique that uses an awl to punch tiny holes in paper to create different motifs.
My first encounter with “picote” was when I was a child in a Preschool in France. I was asked to pierce the paper according to a pattern of dots. That technique was called “picote”. Years later as I was looking at religious images of Christ I found an image from the 17th century using the same technique.
At the time I was very influenced by the art of Australian aborigenals painting dots and I was looking to a different way to use dots.
Also I was influenced by my aunt’s work as a seamstress in Paris after the 2nd World War.
My Venezuelan mother-in -law’s crochet, my mother’s needlework, my aunt’s sewing, all of this handwork has something in common with piercing holes.
I am fascinated by the austerity of the art form. I like punching holes with my awl, cutting paper and sewing sequences and beads to make complex compositions simply by inviting the light to create patterns through the holes. I enjoy the repetitive and Zen like nature of the technique which I associate with meditation. The absence of colors in most of them (white on white) invite shadow to play out on the surface in unique ways. This play between the light and dark gives depth to the work. There is a minimal amount of mediation
I enjoy working with low tech and having a direct relationship with the surface.