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| "Remembrance" is a body of work which represents a departure for me in both subject and concept. Typically my focus is strictly the Ontario landscape - poetic and moody; unpopulated and featuring expansive skies. The receipt of an Ontario Arts Council Emerging Artist Grant in 2008 allowed me to pursue a long-considered project: a series of paintings based on old family film footage, exploring the concepts of time and memory, permanence and impermanence. Conveying a sense of the passage of time has long been a captivating idea for me. I find intriguing the idea that one can have visited a place and that, although one changes, the place remains fixed, whether in fact or in memory - an event happened, and is, in a sense, forever happening. Images in 8 mm films taken by my father since before I was born embody, and make this concept a reality for me. In viewing these films while growing up, memories of my childhood have been powerfully affected. I find it difficult to decipher whether I can recall the events themselves or merely the imagery on film. In this series I am using still images created from the films, as reference in the creation of paintings infused with a sense of wistful reminiscence. Although the images are personal, I believe they will be perceived by many as familiar, meaningful and representative, collectively, of memories of a recent past. By emulating the appearance of the 8 mm film - the intense yet mellowed colour, the distinctive quality of light and contrasts, the offbeat and unsettled compositions, I hope to evoke a feeling reflective of the poetic, dreamlike quality of these remembered scenes. The paintings are executed in multiple layers using a translucent and glowing mixture of oil paint, wax and alkyd medium. While I am generally influenced by a number of artists - I am, almost to a greater degree, influenced by certain music, drawing inspiration from the spacious, timeless and atmospheric qualities inherent in the music of Philip Glass, Brian Eno and Radiohead. The haunting and magical qualities I find in the film The Wizard of Oz have also provided a lasting influence. Laura Culic 2009 |
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