“What is important now is to recover our senses. We must learn to See more, to Hear more, to Feel more” – Susan Sontag
Nostalgia combines the Greek words “nostos” (homecoming) and “algos” (pain).
How can a painting define and explore a visceral space of transition and reflection on nostalgia and identity? The painting series is a moving of private sensation of nostalgia and identity into public realm: the feeling of lines, colors, and texture navigate us through visible forms of closeness, and of hope of trying to grasp and hold onto a sentiment of shared spaces of identity. The paintings exist as a language of the in-between space of what is visible and invisible between us. By sharing through an opening of space, the painting can exist as a way of understanding and communicating with each other through the visible space.
The series of abstract paintings explore fragments of identity , and of the existence of a visual relationship of in-between spaces of remembrance and of imagination in relation to the notion of nostalgia.
The same two lines never exist, just like nature, they change continuously. Every line has its own personality, and singularity, growing steadily out of a center force; collecting energy on its path, a particular nerve and sensibility develops. It points me into a flow of everchanging directions. However, trying to shape a line, or yearning for the before, will only throw me off balance. Just like waves or a new day, I may never fully understand where one breaks or ends as I draw my attention outwards into unknown territories.
The painting confirms stability in its static structure. The aim is to transform the static into a moving, dynamic space. A balancing act between stability and instability where the line for instance, continues onto the surrounding wall. Children scribble without being taught, then, we are educated to draw a straight line. Scribbling can be viewed as a form of childhood nostalgia, of a sensation of freedom and innocence. The scribble bounds the world with a meaning to everyone and yet it means something else to each one of us. The lines represent a moving of private sensations into a public realm. A feeling can accompany the line or it can become the line. The painting changes with time, as I draw new lines onto a painting and one onto a new surrounding wall. Understanding it as a way to grasp the intimateness of lines and color relationships and navigating my way around my own identity and experience of nostalgia.