Resa Blatman

Boston, MA

Posted: 7.7.09

More info: Artist site

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(3.99 after 142 votes)

Resa on her work:

Through my work, I attempt to show nature at odds with itself by playing with the contradictions of emptiness versus fullness, lush versus barren, and rapture versus displeasure. In my paintings, the berries, linear loops, and tiny dots represent an abundance of embryos, eggs, and seeds. Heaps are an important element: these berries, loops, tiny dots, and sometimes creatures accumulate in piles and mounds and represent the bounty of femininity and ripeness.

My compositions are inspired by the Baroque, Romanticism, and Victorian decorative art, as well as botanical imagery, to create a visual feast of fruit, flora, wildlife, and pattern. I take those elements out of their context and give them a surreal landscape or contemporary stage. Most of the elements are representationally painted with form, yet in the same picture others might be used as decorative backgrounds. The elements and patterns represent a kind of human life cycle, with all of its changes and complexities, while the juxtaposition of these “three-dimensional” and flat forms creates a visually rich dialog that refers to the ongoing contradictions mentioned above — lush versus barren. Themes of excess and beauty are also represented through the decorative qualities in the paintings. Yet, these ornamental, invasive patterns creep into the fecund environments of the birds and bats — sometimes overtaking, even strangling the animals — and along with the ominous berry, create a picture of sensuality mixed with undertones of wanting and dismay.

The new paintings include digitally created, laser cut edges. The various edges, which may include animals, insects, and flourishes, are an extension of the patterns within the paintings. These cut forms, along with the shadows made by the cuts, encourage a three-dimensionality to the work, and by doing so, the patterns become more invasive and experiential.

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