ARTIST STATEMENT
In my current printmaking practice, I explore the tension between abstraction and representation through a series of circular breast forms. Floating and stylized, these forms may suggest a space for meditation and contemplation. Yet, the intentional titling of the pieces as breasts evokes themes of severance, objectification, and embodied violence, placing the viewer in a complex relationship with the image – symbolic and non-figurative, yet calling attention to the body and its inherent vulnerability. For this series, I employ hard ground etching with aquatint in a two-plate process. Multiple passes of the breast-image plate through the press build density and texture, producing a layered complexity that allows me to emphasize the materiality of the image in a way that aligns with my drawing practice. While the works are stand-alone pieces rather than part of a traditional edition, the printmaking process itself creates space for me to reflect on the physical and emotional implications of the forms from a certain distance, offering a distinctly different relationship than the one I experience when engaging with them through drawing. Ultimately, my work invites viewers to reconsider their relationships with the body, its representations, and the quiet violences potentially embedded within its sensory history.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Amy Faris’s work has been included in exhibitions at AUTOMAT Collective, Philadelphia; The Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminster, NJ; The Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ; The Ely Contemporary Art Center, New Haven, CT; Site Brooklyn, NY; the 2018 Outsider Art Fair, NYC; and Andrew Edlin Gallery, NYC. Honors include a Sustainable Arts Foundation Studio Residence Fellowship at Gallery Aferro in Newark, NJ, selection for Creative Capital’s Professional Development Program for New Jersey Artists, and a Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Grant for residency at the Vermont Studio Center. She earned her MFA in painting from the New York Academy of Art, NYC. In addition to her studio practice, Faris has taught as Visiting Artist within the Art and Visual Studies Department at Georgian Court University, served as guest faculty for the Independent Study Program within Manhattanville College’s MFA creative writing program, and as Visiting Critic at Tyler School of Art. She lives and works in Jersey City and teaches as Assistant Professor of studio arts at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ.
© Amy Faris