Jacana Contemporary Art Gallery

CARRIE CHRISTIAN

Collecting images is something that I have always done. The earliest evidence of this was my childhood sticker book, which was large and involved. After outgrowing stickers I moved on to magazines, books, and cards. Housekeeping magazines from the 1950's I particularly liked. The loving families, elaborate meals, and intricately decorated rooms reflected a picture perfect happiness and harmony. Looking at these images from today's vantage point, the falseness of of these times is blaringly evident, creating a double meaning. These images represent both an ideal time and a time of denial.
The houses in my paintings symbolize the good that most of us start out with, the safety of a home and family. However, the impossible structure, design, and torn edges of the buildings express the instability that comes with being alive. My paintings create a place for these worries to manifest themselves and a space for my thoughts to try and work them out.
The process of taking the images from collage to watercolor is an essential step. All the time put into translating something relatively fast into something painstakingly slow intensifies the relationship I have with the work, becoming almost devotional.

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