ARTIST STATEMENT

 

During this pandemic period of self-isolation, I embarked on a new series of unique works on paper. Working within the parameters of a smaller intimate scale (12 x 9 inches) coupled with the application of a new medium to my process - gouache - I entitled these studies, “Etudes.”

 

I find fascination and joyful discovery emanating from the inventiveness of working in the space between abstraction and perceived representational reference. I build and combine disparate elements that coexist and play together, resulting in a complex choreography with chromatic dissonance. The interplay between collage-like fragments imbued with texture and surface markings creates an illusion of space offering a renewed vernacular and visual narrative. 

 

Creating and producing art during the recent quarantine afforded me an understanding and appreciation of the situation we all find ourselves in, inducing a moment of intense concentration and self-reflection marked by keen observation. These intricate studies encourage me to have the fortitude to reach the next plateau in my oeuvre.

 

Placing this series in context within my decades-long transformation from hyperrealism to abstraction, the “Fugues” series of circle paintings (2016-2018), from whence the current “Etudes” evolved, are significant in that the progressive color palette remains relevant and dynamic as a bridge from one to the other. Throughout these studies, I again focus on defining and redefining the outer edges of the canvas, its demarcation and formal and emotional engagement with the viewer, as demonstrated in my earlier large dimensional canvases (2006-2007).

 

Ilona Sochynsky

June 2020