Finally finished the third and final print in the V Series from my BodyPrint Healing Series. The first two are monotypes and the third is a drypoint etching. All three will be on exhibit at the 2011 Riverside Art Museum Off The Wall Event.

More here: http://www.kathrynvcrabbe.com/2011/2011-healing-bodyprints/

Artist Statement

The current body of mixed media paintings, Journey Into Intimacy and prints, BodyPrint Healing Series are a visual representation of an intuitive cathartic process.

Journey Into Intimacy depicts an inner landscape of the senses. Part dream, part yearning and part sacred symbol the work stems from a holistic perception of the world. Emotions are spiritualized into Divine patterns pre-existing in nature; the spiral, the circle, a seedpod, a flower.

The paintings are steeped in pure and brilliant SoCal color. “The lack of tradition here allows artists to go farther out in defining their own culture.” (Chris Burden) Lyrically and synaesthetically responsive to the music that inspires the work the process is intuitive and spontaneous, the brushstrokes restless and absurd in their unashamed vulnerability.

Charcoal, pastel and acrylics are applied in layers to a smooth prepared surface using garden rakes, fingers, (house painting) brushes, sponges, scraping tools and my body pressed into the surface; the process itself leading the way.

“Even as we pass into a time when pencil smudges themselves are an increasingly exoticized thing of the past, the world is still tactile and material. To touch it is to know it.” (Amy Sillman, Art Forum, Summer 2011)

The BodyPrint Healing Series depicts various body parts in need of healing. Each body part is printed in a series of three. The first two prints are monotypes of the body imprinted onto plexiglass and printed with an etching press. The third print is etched into the plexiglass plate and depicts the inked up impression of a body part. The act of scratching or etching into the plexiglass sublimates the need for harm to come to the body.