BARBARA FISHER

A continuation of the "Impermanence" series, in mostly grays and blacks, with a bit of color thrown in.

The history of process and transformation evident in these paintings continually reminds the viewer of the inevitability of change and the impermanence inherent in all things. The wood surfaces are sanded, scribbled on, painted over, wiped off and otherwise distressed.

A continuation of "The Space Between" ...without quite as much space between.

These paintings are oil on panel and appear, for the most part, to be without imagery. While there are many marks and gestures beneath the surface, the finished paintings emphasize what is no longer there...AKA the space between.

Familiar and unfamiliar shapes and images from my visual memory bank mingle in ethereal spaces.

A visitor to my studio looked at this work and said "These paintings are your grid work turned inside out!" I decided to incorporate charcoal drawing back into my paintings. My signs and icons escaped from the grid temporarily and are free floating in an ethereal space. Life forms are being created and mutated, some receding, some on the surface, with remnants of matter beneath.

“Where’s the color?”, someone asked me. I was experimenting with using more muted color and simpler lines. Both the palette and the imagery in this body of work are soft and subtle. Most of the images are drawn in black or white, thus making them simpler and more mysterious at the same time. Where have you seen this shape before? The forms are evocative and may remind you of something you can't quite remember.

Universal and personal icons along with seemingly unrelated random objects exist together in a grid or segmented space, creating a new order that is both harmonious and dissonant.

In this series, new and recurrent elements interact within landscape-like space, sometimes interrupted by geometric boundaries. These often dissonant components - architectural forms, vessels, chairs, rocks, water - fight to fit into the mysterious space. Objects are often poised precariously or sit on the edge of an abyss. Within each piece the imagery and the composition are challenged to create the tension necessary to maintain balance amid the chaos of these other-worldly landscapes.

These images resemble the skeletal forms of some of my familiar paint figures....or thsoe figures emering. The forms become more animated than they are in the paintings; they appear to be communicating with one another. They have scars and wounds, and they cast mysterious shadows. The distressed look of the forms is enhanced by the process of erasing and redrawing. The color drawings are china marker on drafting film.