"Precious"
20" x 24" Acrylic, tape, and paper. March 2007

"This Makes This"
28" x 20" Acrylic, tape, and paper. March 2007

"Honestly
24" x 30" Acrylic, tape, and paper. March 2007

"Choose Your Own Adventure"
48" x 64" Acrylic, tape, and paper. January 2007

 

            The above works on paper are explorations of by-products and potential found in earlier stages of my process. Using two-dimensional geometric forms I reference the possibility of three-dimensionality. As I work in my studio the residual elements of my art making are the most inspiring. I liken the noticing of beauty in the unintentional to catching a glimpse of the subconscious. The reference to what the geometric shapes could be is more interesting than what they are when they realize that potential.

            I piece together intricately cut bits of found paper, paintings, fabric, and drawings to make flat collages. I use many patterns in the work, which imbue each piece with latent meaning. The patterns are derived from long time interests, such as history, science, and geometry. The shapes in the work are inspired by past attempts to make my paintings sculptural. The work has quality of honesty when I allow for intuition and aesthetic subjectivity to guide the formal aspects of my work.

            In capturing and glorifying an important, but typically un-regarded part of the process, I am proving the work can only be what it is now because of what was made before. While this is true of most art, I am exaggerating the phenomena of art as parasite. The work exists as a sign of potential for the future or evidence from the past, while being contently what it is here and now. The unrealized potential becomes a potent metaphor for a specific place of being within a progression of existence.

-April 16, 2007

"Cell 81"
44" x 48" Acrylic on panel. July 2006

"Cell 53"
12" x 18" Acrylic on panel. June 2005

The visual and conceptual aspects of the hexagon pattern interacting and overlapping are interesting to me. It is like cells in a microscope, dividing and multiplying. The work is inspired by science, nature, and pattern. It is something for me to get lost in and explore. I am sensitive to the properties of the materials; to the interaction of graphite meeting crayon; to a brush stroke under pencil lines; and the subtly of one color on top of another.
There is unpredictable order and intentional chaos. Dualism is everywhere and in everything. Chaos and order, movement and stasis, infinite and finite, creation and destruction, and organic and geometric are dichotomies that are influential. It is the coexistence of these opposites that intrigues me. I understand the work more all the time but I am continually surprised and obsessed.
-May 2005

All images belong to Robyn Engel.