Anne Rynearson
Statement

In my work and practice, engaging in the making of things is a process of thinking, an act of desire and a kind of alchemical revelation. The form and meaning of my work is born of out the materials and processes of painting, drawing and printmaking. 
I create in series, developing relationships among pieces over an extended period of time. Through this work, stories, forms and patterns of imagery emerge.  I am interested in the visual language of abstraction, informed by fictional and historical narratives as well as by my experiences and intuitive whim.

Themes are open to interpretation. My approach to narrative is one that allows for the materials and processes to guide the imagery as much as a singular idea or story; meaning is something that develops over time and through the working process.
My priority is to the visual occupation of the work and themes become apparent as I move forward in the working process, all the while embracing change. The work may be interpreted as a wholistic visual complex and inferred by the title, although my intent with titling is to invite one into the work--not provide a defined explanation of the work. I am not aiming for an illustrative effect/affect, but aspire to entice the viewer into the world I am imagining and creating.

My approach to the formal concerns of the work, e.g. configuration, scale, material application, surface, form and color, create a type of meaning in the work in a way that is embedded, associative and symbolic. Through a process of trial and error, I seek a balance between oppositional elements. I set up problem-response situations in the studio and aim to challenge myself through the working process, resulting in visual outcomes that were not planned (forced to deal with the good and the bad). I enjoy overlapping and layering paint in a collage-like way, so pieces take time to complete. I also generally work on a larger scale (with some exceptions) and like the sense of labor and repetition in the imagery and processes. This helps me to delve deeply in the work and to understand the “personalities” of individual pieces within a series concept. Color is an important component of my work that I use in different ways, depending on the piece and the series intent; I am interested in exploring the symbolic and emotive aspects of color, the dramatic optical effects of color (and color theory relationships, ) as well as association with particular subjects, characters or other narratives. For me, color gathers visual meaning in the work as an object, and as a physically-presenting idea. 

I have used both analog and digital techniques in my work, although I love processes most that involve direct engagement with materials on a matrix or substrate. For my paintings, I use acrylic paint and mediums in a traditional painting/glazing manner combined with stencils, airbrushing and pouring paint applications. In printmaking work, I have used relief and hybrid mono-printing processes.


Archived series statements:
Alt-Scape (2018-2015) ︎︎︎
Liminal Realities + Enigmatic Constructs (2023-2018) ︎︎︎