K Ann Horn
A Platter (2019)
oil on canvas
20 x 16 in.
I have an obsession with defining time periods and phases of my life. I give descriptions to fleeting phases, only able to do so in ways that measure them as before or after another phase. Currently wondering where girlhood ends and womanhood begins, I try to organize the conflicting feelings of transition and permanence in my young adulthood through depictions of the moments that contain both.
I am inspired by the trite illustrations of this transition from the pop culture of my 90s youth (see Now and Then, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, the works of Sophia Coppola) as storylines against which to contrast this present reality of flux, particularly focusing in on the key element—prevailing female relationships. I draw upon the heavily curated images of social media as the representation of the latter, questioning the divide between the ideal and the reality, both within the present, and between it and my adolescent dreams.
I work from digital photographs of events and moments destined to be displayed on social media, creating a voyeuristic quality much like that of scrolling a media feed.
Rendering these moments in paint abstracts the obvious perception of the image—faces are gone, colors are brightened—presenting the more dream-like, altered rendition of a memory. Through detailed rendering, I draw focus to particular elements, such as objects and food, to explore how these objects exist in a moment as their own being altogether, acting as a symbol or signal.
Sometimes I depict objects that hold meaning, and I seek to understand how this object exists in a certain span of time; other times I depict larger scenes, presenting a wider view of an occasion, trying to understand the contrast of emotions between my act of display and that of the viewer’s observation.
© K Ann Horn