Sandra Flood is a self-taught artist living and working in the USA. She paints in a variety of genres; her figurative, abstract, still life and landscape pieces may be seen on her website and blog. Several stylistic features reminiscent of Edgar Degas, a proclaimed influence, may be traced in her artwork — but always filtered through a distinctly personal interpretation. Her color is darker on the one hand, but less earnest on the other: one of the most peculiar qualities of her work is the coexistence of a gloomy palette with an ironic mood. This seeming mild paradox makes for an exciting viewing; though slightly disconcerting at first, it is particularly satisfying for a somewhat jaded audience. Sandra’s work is different, it’s an acquired taste, but the effort is worth it.
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Andrea Kowch writes in her Mini Paintings blog about her impressions from some of these settings. She then channels them into visual descriptions. Several features distinguish the landscapes and outdoor scenes: reticent realistic palette; angles and slanting lines that accentuate the perspective and play a more symbolic role (see below) as well; joyful and vigorous treatment of space, despite the languorous scenery. But first and foremost these small pieces are about the atmosphere — one of reminiscence and reverie.
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The polished transcendental look of the magical realist pieces gives way to grittier coloring and more down to earth feel in the book covers. Here blue and gray tones do not symbolize or portend cold and hostility; they depict them as it is, or was — conceived in the authors’ minds. I haven’t read “The Crucible” but I have seen the movie, starring my favorite actor, Daniel Day-Lewis, who was also a relative of Arthur Miller (who himself adapted the play to the screenplay) by marriage. The actor gave an intense performance and I recognize some of that intensity in the image below: one person is determined to oppose an entire community, to either defy or subdue it in God’s name. Because the huts and the houses are only visible on the fringes, it may appear as if the woman’s frame pushes them out, small and shabby, as if by the force of will and personality. Thus the painter effectively condenses one of the major themes of the narrative into a singular composition.
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Andrea Kowch is an American (Detroit, Michigan) artist who adopted the One Painting a Day practice, citing it as “great discipline and good exercise.” Her daily paintings, usually still life, are workmanlike, but it is the larger pieces where, to my mind, most of the original concepts concentrate. Andrea’s artwork may be seen on her website (currently under construction), on the New Works blog and on the Mini Paintings blog. In this review I would like to discuss the series of paintings inspired by the declared idea of preserving the environment.
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The still life pieces allow to make a more round evaluation of the artist’s style. They are less dramatic; they are calmer. The inherent stillness brings in an air of objectivity and provides a respite from the intensity of human figure. The often unusual viewing angles, which may seem unnerving and disquieting at the first glance, do precisely the opposite: because the view from above captures maximum detail, they reduce uncertainty, hiding less, and relax. The combined profile and en face depiction of the garlic (ironically reminiscent of police bringing photographs), for instance, repeats the portrait trend, but exerts an opposite effect, as the viewer is being reminded that a garlic is a garlic is garlic, from any perspective.
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