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MAINSITE
Show Statement,
Just Sweeping...
Jen Taylor
For the last ten years I have painted in encaustic and oil, creating multi-layered paintings of wax, oil & alkyd glazes. These paintings were informed by my experiences in nature and the physical connection between my body & my environment.
This current installation of "Drawings" evolved from setting up new exploratory parameters for myself as an artist such as: What if I deprive myself of the medium I feel so comfortable with? What everyday objects and movements can I use to create drawings? What sort of traces and tracks will be left behind by these tools and body movements? The drawings that evolved from these questions, like my many layered paintings are multi-layered in meaning. They are a record of my body performing a simple meditative repetitive action and moving through a specific place & time. The drawings are made with simple domestic objects such as brooms, hand brooms, dustpans, and flour sifters. The medium is very finely sifted particles of chalk, graphite and Oklahoma red dirt.
The work has references to Zen Calligraphy, Action Painting, Chinese Landscape painting, Taoism, Dadaism and even Gender roles. . Most importantly for me it speaks of the transient nature of life itself and the tracks we leave behind while we are here The work is very much about process and I tried to free myself from the intention of making a drawing, and focused on my inherent movement when sweeping. Working with the very fine particles it was important to shut down my mind and let my body just respond to the movement of the particles. All the work is done on the floor, but I enjoy viewing it on the wall, this creates an ambiguous space much like a Chinese landscape painting. Even though I recall where I began and where I ended it is not always clear which way the energy is moving in the finished work. I hope the viewer will ponder these ideas and that the sound of sweeping will elicit a primal feeling of movement, and awareness of your body in space at this place and time.
