Remember Italy?

Hi All,

I am posting again, since the last post was an old post that I went in and re-edited. The last post is still extremely relevant. I am still using those artists and landscapes as inspirations. But I also really wanted to explain my intentions, since it is not always very clear (especially not to me). So, where to begin?

First, I want to re-post a video that I just remembered earlier this afternoon. I was thinking a lot about loneliness, and how to really embody the feeling in a painting, while working in abstraction. Then, I remembered this piece by Valerio Berruti that I saw at the Venice Biennale. It was one of my favorite pieces, and it brought me to tears:

I am really interested in this idea of the child, and a lost innocence in my paintings. I started thinking about this in my Victorian Literature class today when we were talking about Lacan and his theories about the child falling from a “world of images” into a “world of symbols.” Anyone who is familiar with Lacan will know what I am referencing…Basically, there is the concept that the child is attached to their relationship withtheir mother, which is all they know–until they see their reflection in the mirror for the first time. Thus, after this confrontation with one’s true self, the person should confront the world of symbols, and one’s own individuality. I think my work is currently involved in this subconscious idea of the mind taking over the body, and what decisions one makes after they separate themselves from the mother and from the world of innocence. How do we perceive the world around us, and how to we judge ourselves? In the world of symbols, we are introduced to beauty, ego, and sex.

These are all things that I am thinking about…But who knows what will come of it! Honestly, I just have to keep painting. When I get stressed and anxious, as I have recently been, it is hard to wrap my mind around these giant concepts.

In other news, I have three pieces in the student art show at Guilford College. The largest painting (and probably the best that I have done) has not yet been photographed, but I am on my way to do that now! I will post it later today.

I hope you all enjoy.

Love,

Zoe

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