Painting descriptions on Gallery page
STILL LIFE : An Italian Table: My newest paintings are an homage to my Italian American heritage and love for its vernacular culinary/social traditions. There is an urgency in these offerings to create a visual record of the Italian table as I have experienced it over a lifetime; to preserve a lifestyle and its practices that are quickly being diluted by generic methods of cooking, socializing, and sharing meals in the vast scope of the American collective.
The viewer is brought to the table to engage with the content and place themselves within the intimate setting. My hope is that celebrating the specificity of one culture reminds the viewer of commonality within diversity; how their own intimate table shared with family and friends engenders the same bonds and sentimentality as does my Italian table.
WORD SERIES: Messages. This series explores the use of written messages in visual art. I am interested in elevating ordinary words and phrases by extracting them from a ubiquitous screen, placing them in a color field, and watching them take on new and layered meaning. These paintings expand on the growing practice of relying on visual means, instead of verbal, to share our thoughts, news, plans, opinions, and feelings with others.
WORD SERIES: Personal Truths. I am experimenting with the contrast between representational elements and symbolic imagery in order to express personal content and engage the viewer in a visual dialog around unspoken truths.
FIGURATIVE SERIES: Trapped. The imagery represents the struggle for personal freedom, specifically when an individual feels powerless over her/his circumstances. The figure of a woman trapped in a box is life size, painted on a 24” x 24” canvas, replicating a 24” x 24” box in which the woman “sits” within its boundaries.
