“Emerging Translations”

Caroline’s Artist’s Statement for Emerging Translations

The philosopher Walter Benjamin once described a moment in translation when an idea hovers between languages, not yet fixed, still open. I think paintings can work the same way.

These works explore line, color, shape, and space as ways of understanding and representing experiences without words. Influenced by midcentury abstract painters, marks are at times loose, repetitive, they circle back and are layered onto each other. These visual choices represent the way that thoughts, sounds, emotions and physical experiences can interrupt, sooth, enlighten and awaken us. Each piece traces the ways we make sense of our experiences, how we notice, judge, or overlook things depending on where our attention rests. The open spaces are as important as the marks: they leave room for reflection, for holding an experience before naming it.

To learn more about John’s work, visit his site.