Elyse Martin

"SERENDIPITOUS FLOW"  Opening Reception Fri.  April 29, 5-8pmMy current work explores the possibility of making visual sense through a process that, though sometimes complex, turns out to be a kind of managed serendipity. I create large abstracts, worked flat.  I start with acrylic paint, begin with colors in different areas, and manipulate the canvas until I find what works. The beginning is almost arbitrary, but what emerges is usually surprising. I combine paint with a variety of textures—sometimes pouring medium, sometimes varnish, sometimes gels—to create surfaces that I embellish, remove, scrape, splatter or puddle.Walking around the canvas as I work, I discover the perspective that best suits the piece. Whether vertical, horizontal or angled, there is a struggle between disarray and harmony, comfort and discomfort that I try to resolve in each piece, a process that can be completed through a minute detail or disparate dash of color. I try to keep the viewer simultaneously engaged by the complexities of the work and soothed by the empty spaces in between.

Opening Reception, Friday, April 29, 5:00-8:00pm

• Exhibition dates: April 28 – May 21, 2022
• Gallery hours: Thurs – Fri 2-6pm, Sat – Sun 12-4 pm