GAYLE WHEATLEY
ARTIST STATEMENT My paintings portray a unique world of surreal landscapes where space mermaids float past nebulas and co-exist among tangerine fish that swim about out of water. My images often feature blushing girls who represent classic feminine archetypes. These timeless archetypes have appeared throughout history in art, literature, and mythology. In my paintings they emerge reinvented—within the modern context of pop culture. These sweet-faced girls cast shadowy undertones full of curious eccentricities and hidden mythologies—challenging the classical representation of the feminine throughout art. Because my art is heavily influenced by the destinations I travel to, my paintings are filled with cultural references that are combined to form a rich visual language. Patterns and lines are laid out in combinations that create floating compositions symbolic of the flat picture planes of Japanese prints. My painted girls are tattooed with foreign scripts that either contain translations of my poems or explore the underlying concepts behind my imagery. My painting process revolves around the ancient Chinese concept of energy, or chi. Similar to meditation, painting requires me to focus on the flow of my energy, locking out everything else in order to direct that essence through emotional filters that result in spontaneously lush color applications peppered with beautiful accidents. -- GW
KARTIKA REVIEW