Karen Fielder
artist statement      

This work spans the last five years, and traces first my desire to draw and paint fluently, and second to find intersections between photography and drawing and painting. I experiment with media and attempt to both utilize and defy the classical rules of painting and drawing. I believe that understanding tradition is vital, and to that end I look to painters and draftspeople of different time periods and incorporate this visual knowledge in to an ever-evolving vocabulary. Education is an on-going process for me, one that begins when I open my eyes every morning.

Through the process of drawing, painting, and taking photographs, themes have emerged and overlapped. I enjoy creating deeply psycological figurative work, drawing from years of classical studio figure drawing. I work entirely from imagination, and for this the emotive qualities of the figure have become more important than anatomical perfection. However, themes on nature and the elements predominate, and have included explorations on the theme of water, fire, invented landscapes that merge with the psycological. I am interested in capturing the energy of the natural world, and would rather feel like a participant than an observer. I prefer to be nature than to replicate it.

Karen Fielder, 520.869.2657, www.karenfielder.com, karen@karenfielder.com