Snow Asylum
For Marion Llewellyn, this new series of paintings entitled Snow Asylum is born out of her experience with post traumatic stress disorder. Although nineteenth century language gave a negative association to the word asylum as a place of punishment and incarceration, Marion chose the word for the title of this series because the original meaning referred to a place of refuge, or a haven. Using subtle, muted colour and a landscape of snow in her works, Marion creates a feeling of calm. She sees snow as a means of protection.
What roots Marion to her emotional journey through post traumatic stress disorder is the ambiguity provoked by the icons and imagery in her work. For example, does the image of an arrow convey an impending attack or is it a symbol of the messenger of good news? It is the artist’s intention to demonstrate that when we witness or experience conflict or injustice on any scale, we are changed. To what degree we are changed, or how we process the conflict is unique for each individual. Marion challenges the viewer to ask about their own set of symbols and how they influence our lives.
In this unique series of paintings Marion tells a story, underscoring the point that history bears witness to and retells our own stories.
Targeting Light Sources
My new series of abstract paintings, “Targeting Light Sources” are done with graphite drawings superimposed on an acrylic service. By working on the entire series simultaneously it became apparent each panel could be hung as a duo, a trio, or in a square of four. The size of the square can also vary depending on the number of pieces chosen (for example the square could consist of eight or twelve etc.). The arrangements are limitless.
I painted with abandon and adopted whatever techniques I stumbled across. The freedom in the painting contrasts with the detail in the drawing and creates a tension similar to what we face in the good and the bad moments of life. Positives are seen as light, negatives are seen as dark. The tension between them cannot be ignored.
With light we experience feelings of hope – as in “light at the end of the tunnel.” Light manifests itself physically, emotionally and spiritually. Individuals have different understandings of what constitutes their ‘light source’ but it is evident we have an irrepressible desire to move towards it, even with the challenges and unpredictability of life.
The dark panels represent the opposite of light. In the darkness one finds tiny cracks of light, just as in the light panels we see traces of darkness. A series of pebbles represent tragic circumstances, our effort to huddle together in agitation. The particles, similar to dust or small hairs floating in the sun light, hint at challenges and unresolved situations. Nets represent our frailty. Stitching demonstrates our effort to hold things together or the times when we are bursting at the seams. Small, subtle dark spots represent holes that are the wear and tear on our spirit. There is futility in trying to trap what will always remain elusive to us.
“Targeting Light Sources” is the journey we all undertake. My themes are a foundation only. It is my desire as an artist to present visual layers the viewer can interpret and apply to their own situation.
Every (Where) is Memory?
The art I make is invariably driven by inner questions surrounding the human psyche. Ironically, these questions result in more questions. The current suite Every (Where) is Memory? is a natural continuum of this approach.
The framework of Memory is monumental considering it can be accessed or retrieved from the archival, the collective, the genetic and the individual experience. However, it has been intimated that we’d all be better off without Memory. It is this view that triggered the question of where Memory is stored?
As far as I know, in spite of Science’s profound knowledge of the brain, all of Memory’s exact location(s) have not been pinpointed.
I feel Memory is cellular and therefore ubiquitous and not stationed in any specific vicinity. Its purpose and scale contain the micro through to the macro form. This is my belief and not theory as I have not researched it. Rather, for this particular series, I was vigilant in denying myself reference and information – in order to experiment freely with my own visual musings.
Relying on intuitive imagery alone the timbre of the pieces inevitably became organic. The imagery is based on the cellular and the notion that Memory doesn’t have a beginning or end. This is off set by conscious visual referral to time and space. The surface area of my pieces are sharply divided to hint at the feeling of ‘shards of memory’.
The detail of memory knots, both complete and broken, is a metaphor for the old custom of tying a knot in a handkerchief or shoelace, in order to remember something of relative importance. The broken ties represent the breaks in memory or what we don’t want to remember, together with the seeming disappearance of it.
Wherever Memory is stored I’m hoping the viewer will be stimulated to come up with his or her own musings – scientific or otherwise.
H e a r t C o n d i t i o n. [ s ]
It seems the heart as icon and symbol has been squeezed of all spirit. It is applied on everything we see and touch. It looms large, bill board size and is pasted on packaging telling us the products we consume are labours of love and worth our investment – if only to boost the spirit.
The heart as visual imagery has lost much of its currency so it is with a certain sense of irony that I’ve attempted to retrieve some of its value by using the image itself.
My underlying intention was to express what the humanists have pointed out all along; the Heart knows everything and one of its functions is to challenge the chauvinism of the Intellect which argues with amazing persuasion but sometimes speciously – all in a grand effort get the clearest picture possible?
“I sculpted a range of small clay & papier mache hearts & photographed them as signature elements for mixed media panels. As an off shoot I photographed the finished panels for a series of limited edition glycee prints.”
Panels & limited Edition Prints, 14″ x 24″
Attachment / Detachment
I’m drawn to the inner landscape of the human attachments that are embedded in our psyches for whatever reason – except to underscore the view attachments seal our choices & define who we are more covertly than one would suspect . We obviously experience and salute the process of detaching as a necessary human process.I started with the question of which comes first attachment or detachment and found that the two states are fluid and sometimes mask each other which lead me to a tertiary sense that the two states converge to show a mysterious third state; nameless, but never the less meaningful and open to investigation.
Mixed Media on Wood, 16″ x 24″