ARTIST STATEMENT
“My painting journey began several years ago when I found myself in that time of life that everyone should expect, but few see coming. I was simultaneously raising three children, while caring for my aging and terminally ill mother and aunt. The notion of “generational transition” became all too real as both women turned over the family albums. They passed 4 weeks apart. Grief and life moved on, as it does, and my own realization followed. The passing of the generation is the universal requisite for all families with the narrative in the hands of those who are left. I began to look through these albums, looking for clues of the life I knew with them and began painting those moments.
A natural broadening of interest beyond my own family resulted in a fascination with other people’s photographs. I started looking at flea markets, and antique stores at the photos strangers left behind. These dusty, abandoned piles of pictures begged the question, “What becomes of us when there is no one to remember?
The presence of pattern hints at the importance of domestic life, the underlying thread of the natural world evidenced in botanical hints, while the purposeful vibrant palette and painterly style clues the viewer into my efforts to animate and embellish these strangers. These paintings provide a subtle nod to a narrative probing the complexities, ambiguities and messiness of a life well lived. A recognition that women are the stream from which we all flow. The stories brought to the canvas provide some sort of closure, the hint of a story buried for all time. I leave it to the viewer to fill in the blanks.
My fascination with the botanical world could not help but find its way into my abstract work. I seek that moment of seeding, growth, movement known, but not seen. ”
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Amy Pleasant studied Computer Animation at he Art Institute of Seattle and attended the Drawing and Painting Atelier at Gage Academy of Art. She has participated in national exhibitions in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, as well as having solo exhibitions in Seattle, Dallas and Amsterdam. In 2012 she was one of twelve artists featured nationally by the Woman’s Caucus for the Arts and was a recipient of an Artist Trust Gap grant in 2015. Her work can be found in personal and corporate collections in the Pacific NW and the Netherlands. In her free time she enjoys spending time with her family and hiking in the Pacific Northwest.
© Amy Pleasant