Harriet Silverstein

 

ARTIST STATEMENT

Harriet SiversteinI work out of numerous combined artistic traditions, ranging from ancient Egyptian and Roman mural painting to Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Abstract Expressionism and more. I have always worked figuratively with underlying abstraction because I choose to follow a creative journey without preconceived ideas of outcome, thus allowing for genuine pictorial exploration. Multiple varied drawing and painting media are often combined freely to achieve deeply textural, sensual, physically tactile surfaces that incorporate spontaneous marks, shapes, and layers of color. These calligraphic marks, shapes and color layers are superimposed over a complex visual landscape of organic and descriptive forms. By physically and spontaneously layering opaque, transparent, textural and spontaneous pictorial elements, I create rich, complex and physically active pictorial surfaces. This combination allows intensive and instinctive wwwelopment of bold, tactile surfaces, intense color, and unique visual experiences inviting focused exploration by the viewer. One of my central goals is to create imagery that the viewer can return to, again and again, discovering new, previously unseen or unnoticed paintings within paintings. For me, these separate and very available moments of visual thrill that combine into a larger image, are unique to painting and drawing made by hand and cannot be even remotely duplicated by technology.