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WE'RE REALLY HAPPY - 2003-2004
We're Really Happy is a 36 x 48 inch series
of acrylic paintings on canvas. Drawing upon popular sources-- movies, TV,
etc.-- this group of 6 paintings presents enigmatic couples trapped in ambiguous
spaces. Caught in a letterbox format with boundaries on either side, these
disconnected figures reflect an anxious world.I’ve drawn a human universe as if it were stopped in a single frame of film, enigmatically depicted and held a moment before advancing, forcing the viewer to complete the narrative--- to patch together hints of meaning and counter-meaning in ways that parallel today’s world carrying its cargo beyond view.
SECOND LOOK / CONNECTIONS GALLERY
- A Twenty Year Overview (1980's - 1990's)
April - May 2006 Show at Buffalo Arts Studio, Buffalo, NY
In
my works I paint brooding sensuality of film noir, its menace, often in
the stark imagery of underground comics. I see our animal nature reflected
in biological motivation, often sexual; but what separates us from other
animals is not our nobility of purpose or even empathy with them, but
our capacity for questionable behavior.
My characters live on the fringe, their aberrant
pursuits set in a world where sexual power, its politics, is undergoing
a transformation, where rules are changing, now challengeable and inconsistent,
at times absurd, leaving them to negotiate life as best they can. However,
if there is a feeling of dysfunction and a crackling tension underneath
all, there is also the promise of freedom hanging in the air.
For these I frequently draw on movie stills and
new clippings to set the tone, to carry a palpable sense of time suspended,
without any specific narrative, each a moment held with only hints of
a beginning or an ending (resolution?).
The people in these pictures and their viewers
are joined in trying to make from this a viable world, to fill in the
blanks. All is at the same time real and metaphorical for both its viewers
and those held within the pictures' frames.
Made
in America is an ongoing body of paintings on used, often scuffed cardboard
sheets, 56" x 44" (packing material found on a loading dock),
framed by their raw wooden shipping supports and hung with screw eyes and
large nails. Of this continuing political body, 14 pieces are now completed.These works seem particularly apt in the present climate, questioning the violence and suffering that randomly penetrate our daily lives, spinning us centrifugally into conflict with each other.
In these new painting I've used a snapshot approach to suggest an everydayness in these images, presented on non-archival, disposable materials, frames and hardware to underscore the indifference of our throwaway culture.
Ordinary images become metaphors revealing the undercurrents in our fragmenting world: broken dolls, corporate cattle with tagged ears, foul sinks overflowing onto infants, Hummel objet d'art interpretations of patriotism; what to make of our teetering world.
Seemingly incidental events are meant to spell out closed and anxious mental states. The ambiguity is calculated and intentional, forcing the view to patch together hints of meaning and countermeaning in a way that parallels the anxieties of early 21st century life.
cell phone: 716.472.8416 | home phone: 716.881.5271
e-mail: contact@jackie-felix.com