STATEMENT OF WORK

    I  draw from deep observation in the natural environment within the perimeters of my home  and  extrapolate, process and transfigure this experience through painting, drawing, photography, cutting, constructing and destructing.  Plumage from my chickens, bark and branches are just some of the things that end up in my large and medium scale collages- albeit in a more ambiguous form. 

    I am interested in creating visual harmony between opposing forces in my work. This includes an on-going balancing act between abstraction, representation, photographic imagery and the fluidity of paint. With each piece I go through a process of deconstructing the imagery to a point it is almost indiscernible, yet holding on to a degree of that which in knowable.  It becomes a struggle to find that place between the knowable and the ambiguous - to allow a shiny plumage of feathers to emerge from an otherwise abstract form.  Moreover, it is important to also maintain this balanced relationship between the condensed energy of the forms and the calm space that surrounds them. I am not afraid to allow for a vast amount of negative space to achieve this. In my mind, this negative space holds equal weight. 

    My work is process driven. All the collages begin from a process of cutting and repurposing old paintings -and more recently, completing new paintings with the sole intention to cut and re-configure. Semi-transparent Mylar is used in the paintings because it imparts a hazy see- through quality that is crucial to the work and allows for new relationships to emerge and co-mingle within the imagery as I overlap one piece over the next- doing and undoing.

Lisa McCutcheon