This series explores shapes in the natural world which fascinate me. The forms are all ones I’ve observed during walks in the nature reserve near my home, but I’ve rearranged them into forests of my imagination. As an artist, I am interested in abstracting the forms, shifting slightly their context, and emphasizing the sheer beauty of the colors, textures, and patterns encountered in the forest. The paintings follow the changes from season to season while exploring the species of trees, funguses, insects, and animals native to the forest of southern New York, as well as the invasive species taking over. Some explore the personal journey of a tree: from being struck by lightning, through slow decay while being taken over by whole civilizations of fungi and slime, to shredding into the final hairs of cellulose spread on the forest floor.
The remains of trees sustain an opulent fungal life that explodes in colors and textures in an entirely new world of connections and relationships while still carrying the traces of their previous
existence, like silhouettes. In some of my pieces, tree remnants are entangled with things that belong to me-- like my hair, that might have caught on a branch as I walked through the forest, or souvenirs of loved ones who are gone, like beloved jewelry or cherished fabrics – all impressions of past human interrelation.
The places where I walk are amidst densely populated suburban areas. One can hear the noise of traffic, smell the exhaust, and see the trash negligently left behind. Yet, the encounter with the natural space is a reminder of how inseparable we are from our natural environment, even though we habitually think of ourselves as somehow “other” and apart from it. In my reimagined forests, past and present, plants and animals, and the human presence are tightly woven together into one visual fabric of experience.
