ARTIST STATEMENT
Personal dream imagery, Spiritual (Jungian) psychology and joyful nostalgia are the emotional forces behind my recent paintings.
I paint with reverence for antiquity and I shoot for a luminescent painterly effect that can lend a contemporary Baroque feel to the execution.
My depiction of figures, animals, and landscape are reminiscent of sacred religious metaphors, that formed me as a child, combined with my chaotic dreamscapes. With the recent loss of my mother, my paintings have become more earnest, and yet ephemeral. The world I perceive daily combining with the realm of my dreams, generates acute flashes of past memories and healing…… This searching for home and safety is at the heart of my more recent work.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Wendy S. Rolfe creates with a unique visual vocabulary and creative
juxtapositions. Her oil paintings are influenced by her early studies in
philosophy, psychology and religion, particularly the Desert Fathers of
the third century wisdom tradition with an emphasis on Plato and
Freud. Rolfe was affected by her travels throughout Europe, Mexico
and Central America. She writes, “Latin culture, specifically the
Christian elements in combination with psychology play a significant
role in my work.’’
Rolfe studied at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco,
Parsons School of Design in New York and Le Atelier D’ Etampe in
Paris. She executed many commissioned pieces for corporations in
the 90’s, particularly in New York City, Southern California and the
Southwest.
She has been featured in many solo exhibitions throughout the
Midwest, New York City and Southern California. Her work has won
numerous first place awards and is in the collections of the Bank of
Scotland, Merrill Lynch, American Stock Exchange, Dean Witter
Reynolds, C.S. Heinze Foundation, Farm Bureau Financial Services
as well as the Museum collection of Iowa State University.
Rolfe is also curator and does PR for Voices Productions (an
organization that produces events for artists) establishing a program
that produces 35 national and international Murals to Dubuque walls.
Currently Voices Productions purchased a building is opening a Studio
exhibition space for artist residencies and Art Events and Shows.
© Wendy S. Rolfe