Images are born on the canvas more than premeditated, although there is no shortage of cerebral complexity. The mystery here is what lurks underneath the surface.
- Graham Gillmore
TERRAIN
Introducing a new and on-going series; TERRAIN. This work invites us to examine texture and mixed media (alternative paints, pigment sources, material and found objects) AS LANDSCAPE versus strictly composition. This new exploration was born in collaboration with Epic Art (Vancouver, BC) as R+D of new mediums to meet the growing need for builders, designers and homes to have affordable, original art.
Caryn Sturhahn’s work hovers between abstraction and figuration, sometimes within the same painting, giving equal emphasis on narrative and formal concerns. Images are born on the canvas more than premeditated, although there is no shortage of cerebral complexity. The mystery here is what lurks underneath the surface.
Multiple layers of glazing alternate with scraping back into the body of the painting, creating translucent veils which, when looking through them, taps into the paintings process as well as our collective memory of history. In some of the paintings, the use of text allows the work to tell a personal story as well, giving the feeling that it comes from lived experience. The nature of the language, often playfully cynical, is balanced by lyrical dreaminess, granting the work with all kinds of interpretive attention.
There’s a kind of anti-nostalgic quality here - not so much a wistful affection for a period in the past, but an acknowledgement that we cannot live in the past. For Caryn, painting is about slowing down the present, encouraging us to look at the flower growing between the cracks of the sidewalk, inviting us to unearth the physical artifact in front of them.
Graham Gillmore, 2024
AFTERALL
AfterAll, a new series of work that is at the end of the day a personal introspection addressing a concept we collectively share - reckoning the space we exist in the 'in-between' of what we believe to be true, and the unwavering limbo of a reality that is contrary to our expectations. This collection uses in tandem with gestural line work, colour and abstraction, the use of playful language to share a personal story - an epoch full of change that can only result in an openness and ultimately, continued practice in self awareness.
