Date of Submission

Spring 2018

Academic Programs and Concentrations

Studio Arts

Project Advisor 1

Joe Santore

Project Advisor 2

Ken Buhler

Abstract/Artist's Statement

Over the summer I had the opportunity to study in a program that focused on drawing and painting the architecture of Rome. Upon returning to the studio, I integrated this attention to architecture with my interest in painting the figure. Over the course of the year, the figure disappeared from my paintings. Instead, I started to paint large empty interiors. My intention was that the viewer feel the vastness of the space, emphasized by the absence of a figure.

This body of work explores interior architectural space and how the presence or absence of a figure affects it. I paint spaces in which the viewer can feel themselves, taking the place of the absent figure by inviting the viewer to feel as though they become a part of the space as they stand in front of the canvas. These paintings are honest representations of the spaces, focusing on light, atmosphere, and skeletal architectural structure. Through this simplicity I hope that the viewer feels the energy and shape of the room.

The spaces I chose to paint typically go unnoticed by those who occupy them. By inviting the viewer to engage with these spaces I hope to bring an appreciation to these spaces of transition. My main subject of study in this body of work is a passageway in a train station, a place that is only used as a stopping point on the way to an ultimate elsewhere destination. By doing a series of close studies of this transitional room I bring the viewer’s attention to the emptiness of the space and the beauty of light and atmosphere within the architectural container.

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Open Access

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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