Saundra Schwartzkopf’s “Mystical Graffiti” @ Broadway Gallery
E Charleston
Imagine worlds
where shapes become symbols
not specific to any one dialogue but heard by all – saundra
The composition itself becomes patterns of shape and color, lights and darks
of a camouflage design. At first they seem frozen and almost still, a mental
snapshot where each shape becomes the obstacle of the other. Momentarily frozen
as a maze of microscopic movement paused. Blink, another element not yet realized
demands notice. Intense color plays with your perception and your mind begins
to create objects as if looking into the clouds for inspiration.
The artist is not
content to maintain composition within the borders of a stretched canvas but
additionally rearranges and engulfs three-dimensional surfaces. Pieces of found
objects selectively arranged within the artists’ exploration of color, creating
actual shadows that are either denied or enhanced like shadows of thought. The
fleshing out of images with emotions, and contexts, demanding greater attention
to the very experience of looking.
It is not surprising
to note the artist created this series “Mystical Graffiti” within the
height of San Francisco, silicon boom. “I felt as though everything around
me became blown up as if I were looking through a microscope. Every minute particle,
every thought, every idea, became intensely apparent and interesting.“
Although real world
shapes inspired the paintings, the compositions never directly reference an actual
reality yet a reality in the aesthetics of reason by creating a space more real
than reality itself. Molecular expressions, alternative realities, mental puzzle
pieces.
“I am always influenced by my environment“ It was a complex time of
intense thoughts packed beneath clear blue skies and inherent beauty. Mystical
Graffiti represents my greatest effort to speak to the imagination of the space
I felt.”
