STILL #1
(click here or on image to view hi-res)
acrylic on canvas, diptych
108"x66"
©2009
all paintings are for sale.

contact information:

email: michellevest@gmail.com
cel: 505.690.2540

1519 upper canyon road
santa fe, nm 87501

site design by michelle vest
© 2009 michelle vest

Artist's Statement

Influenced by my study of light and shadow in my black and white photography, I was compelled to explore the use of strong color in these abstract diptychs. In this series, Still Falls, the juxtaposition of form and free form, light and shadow defines the freefall of color.

Though I have painted for as long as I can remember, my formal training is in photography. I enter into the process of painting in a similar manner as I do my journalistic photography. When does the photographer know when to click the shutter when watching the world through the lens of a camera? Henri Cartier-Bresson best describes this as the decisive moment. In 1/60th of a second, the photographer freezes life as it passes by, and captures a stillness, a memorable image, that, to the photographer, best represents the essence of the scene, of life, in that moment.

So it is with my abstract exploration. Many people ask how I know when I am finished with each painting. Just as I watch the world through my camera, I witness the paint and the colors pouring onto the canvas. I move with what the colors, the shadows, the space reveals to me, and in an instant, I snap the shutter so to speak. I capture the essence of what the painting has been revealing to me through the many layers, and I know the painting is complete. I see the painting as a split second of an entire process that does not necessarily end when I put down the pallette knife.

Each painting is a world unto itself that I enter into, explore and exit....These colorful images are much like a photograph taken in a rain shower...though we might stop the shower for 1/60th of a second, we know the rain still falls.

All paintings are for sale. Please call for details. Thank you!

click on images below to enlarge (hi-res)
Still Falls 8 80"x60", diptych	Still Falls 3 36"x60", diptych	Still Falls 2 32"x60", diptych	Still Falls 1 36"x60", diptych	Still Falls 7 36"x36"	Still Falls 9 80"x60", diptych

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