Wednesday, January 6, 2016, 6:00 pm
Lidija Ristic:
The most concise way to describe my work is that, regardless of dimension, it is always a collage. Whether I’m clipping images of fur from Harper’s Bazaar and pasting them onto shiny cake trays or combining Styrofoam, sugar and countless miniature decorative pink fabric roses, it always comes together as collage.
What draws me to this process is that each element involved in the composition retains its identity and original frame of reference while working together with disparate elements to create a new whole. This combination creates a new context and a new perspective through which to view these familiar objects.
This process also feels like the most direct way to engage in conversation about social constructs. How much easy can it get to discuss perceptions of value than by bringing together large amounts of gold, some 24k gold leaf, some spent chocolate wrappers, until they become indistinguishable from one another. The precious element becomes as relevant, or irrelevant as the refuse it is now a part of.
Vera Gould:
Creativity doesn’t begin in the mind. It is a force that penetrates all of existence. If we manage to tap into this boundless energy, it moves
freely through our bodies. When I paint, I have no goal in mind. I simply absorb the beauty of the present moment and transmute it into an experience for others. The first stroke is entirely spontaneous. The second stroke places itself relation to the first. The third stroke is dependent on the first two. In this way, the complexity escalates until the composition reaches equilibrium.This process is at once an improvisational dance and a mathematical puzzle. It mirrors the rhythms of nature.