Past Exhibit Pigmentaryportraits

***Note -- all artwork from this exhibition will be shipped at the end of the exhibition - after September 4th.***
Pigmentary Portraits
New work by Lisa Congdon and Lisa Solomon

In this day and age many artists have lost touch with the origins of the materials they use in their craft. In any art store we find rows and rows of choices for materials, neatly packaged, labeled and coded. The knowledge of which paints are transparent or opaque is not something that is handed down from a master to apprentice, but something that one finds on the outside of a container.

Sure, we can see and read the labels, but the history and origins of the color we use each day that we create are lost to our personal preferences—for example, that alizarin makes a better pink than cadmium. Our subjective and highly emotional responses to color are difficult to describe, and yet central to the process of making art.

For their joint exhibition at artstream Studios in Rochester, NH, San Francisco Bay Area artists Lisa Congdon and Lisa Solomon are exploring a selected palette. In their own ways they researched and investigated the historical origins of Indigo and Cobalt blue, Indian and Ochre yellow, Verdigris and Malachite green, Vermillion and Alizarin red, Cadmium and Realgar orange, Tyrian and Mars Violet purple, Gofun Shirayuki white, and Ivory/Bone black. Their hope was to create a portrait of each pigment – through which they might somehow reconnect with the alchemy of colors’ past. Firm believers in the idea that one’s materials can only enhance and contextualize one’s work, both are interested in exploring where these pigments come from and how to present their findings in a visually rich language.

Once the artists decided which pigments on which to focus, they each went to their own studio and individually researched and worked without consulting each other on subject matter or showing each other the work they were producing (though they did discuss general style and materials in advance). What resulted is a series of 14 pairs in which the pigment is strongly represented, but in two very distinct artistic approaches.

Both mixed media artists, this is Congdon’s and Solomon’s first joint exhibition. Congdon typically uses elaborate methods of collage, assemblage and painting to create both one and two-dimensional works that are colorful, graphic and personally descriptive. For this show, she chose to work one-dimensionally and solely with bold gouache colors as a contrast to Solomon’s typically subtler, delicate, more three-dimensional pieces. Solomon fuses awkward and dissimilar concepts and materials in her work, and often chooses to incorporate domestically influenced practices and supplies including sewing, crocheting, and pinning. She sees her use of thread in her work as an element of process, surprise, literal connection and dimensionality, pulling 2D drawing and painting into a 3D arena.