ARTIST STATEMENT
I create mindscapes: abstract windows into science and technology, culture, states of mind. The challenge to interpret these concepts excites me. How do I capture time travel or a force field? The pulse of an ocean or mountain range? The emotions involved in letting go?
My background includes a master’s degree and work in public policy, plus creative work in music, playwriting and poetry. Conceptual abstract expressionism is a bridge for me between these analytic and intuitive worlds. I use writing as part of my painting process to help uncover the deeper truth I want to convey visually.
I love to travel along borders, intersections and horizons, and deep into spaces. I often think of it as wandering inside the upbeat and downbeat of a conductor’s baton. A pulse resonates there, and I am pulled between form and formless, between order and chaos, looking for moments of stillness.
In my recent work, I express my need for stillness by incorporating more open, or negative, space. Negative space is the space between edges. But it is not empty. It contains all my emotions around impermanence. Layers of oil mixed with cold wax form a history. Circular shapes convey the cyclical nature of life and our human connections. Scribbles suggest language and communication. Rectangles act as mirrors and frames for memories.
I am deeply inspired by the fact that all life on Earth is connected at an atomic level, and always in motion. When I paint I am inside the space between, in motion, riding rhythms. I want to fold into a wavelength and feel its frequency as it vibrates from one point in time and space to the next. I am moving along edges, exploring the energy of connection. Join me there!
Cynthia J. Lee
Between Silence & Story