Cherry Rahn

Pair of Glasses (2016)
acrylic on canvas
24 x 18 in.

I don’t set up still-life compositions, but rather I stalk them like wildlife. Whenever I sit down at a table, there is no guarantee that subject matter will present itself. It depends on what is contributed by light sources, table color, object constellations, the colors worn by people sitting around the table, etc. Most of all there must be the potential for transformation beyond the objective in the next process, which is not always evident at this point. I take speculative photos with my phone.

In the studio, I zoom into the image and crawl all over the “surface” to find one of many potential compositions to work with. At this magnification, everything is up for re-interpretation and re-purposing. Visual elements become equalized and decontextualized. I paint what I decide to see, as painters have always done. I enjoy playing with the readable/unreadable continuum, hopefully balancing in the middle. For me it is about discovering the “daily cosmos”, the universal potential in mundane surroundings, and the joy of seeing.