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Pauletta Chanco |
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Artist |
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Home |
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The Artist
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Studio and Galleries |
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Portfolio |
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Calendar |
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Related Links |
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Press Kit |
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Press Kit |
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Fourth Street Lofts 247 Fourth St. #410 Oakland, CA 94607 |
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Artist’s Statement: The Sacred in Profane
The inspiration behind my work has been about moving between sacred and profane space and also existing within a liminal space or bardo. Liminal means transitional space between two levels of life, i.e. aging into dying, puberty into adulthood, youth into marriage, etc. It was originally coined in 1925 by the French anthropologist Arnold Van Gennep when he was researching “rites of passage” in different tribal cultures. Bardo is a Buddhist term to express the liminal or transitional space that we exist in between being born and dying, death and becoming and becoming and being reborn. Since I have been working with this idea for the past five years, and simultaneously being spiritually influenced by the Buddhist concepts of impermanence (which is certainly all our experience in the profane) and emptiness (which is necessary in both the sacred and the profane but must be assimilated in the sacred first), I have been struck by on how many levels spirituality is such an essential element in the creative process and in the life of an artist.
For the past fifteen years, my method of painting has taken form through metaphor(s) in abstraction. It has been most recently inspired by contemplation of how we move between sacred and profane space in everyday reality. The passage in between the two can undertake a psychological, emotional, mental and physical transformation within oneself, as, for example: leaving the noise and bustling concerns of the urban environment and contemplating nature in the countryside. Thus entering nature is like entering sacred space. Other personal examples are what occurs as one enters a church, temple or Japanese teahouse and the art studio to begin working. As one enters a church, physiological changes occur such as becoming more inward and quiet, whispering instead of talking normally, etc. Upon entering a temple, certain rituals may be observed such as first removing the shoes, lighting incense and/or prostrating and bowing. All of these rituals aid in transforming oneself to leave the profane outside while creating an inner quietude in preparation for the sacred.
The metaphors which occur in the abstraction of my work are expressed through the use of river “rock” and “stone” type forms which can be smooth or sometimes jagged-edged. These act as stepping stones in encouraging the viewer to move through the painting visually and metaphorically between the sacred and profane.
Another metaphor in the work occurs in the transparent layering technique that I use in the painting. The transparent layers allow prior layers of form and color to come through slightly into subsequent topmost layers. This I achieve both in the use of the beeswax or the encaustic medium on wood panel or in the thin layers of oil or acrylic washes on linen canvas. The layers in the painting metaphorically represent the aforementioned psychological, emotional, physiological and mental transformations that occur in the process of leaving one space for another. —Pauletta Chanco |