The work in this series is inspired by poetry which conveys a haunted, vacant landscape in the mind. In particular, the language used in Georg Trakl’s poems evokes a sense of spiritual wreckage and abandonment.
To best capture this sense of loss or decay, there was a sculptural element I wanted to incorporate into my painting; bringing more textures towards the viewer and confronting them with a surface where paint is applied across discarded objects of nature, trash, and plaster. I wanted the focus to remain on the painted space, but with these materials creating difficulty as opposed to being the focus. Charcoal lines and softer brushwork emphasize the shadows created by the surfaces and provide a fragile space of stability. The tension of assimilation where the material is acknowledged and integrated encourages the viewer to find beauty in places of rawness, harshness, and difficulty.