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recent work online ......artistlightbox.com
more work including videos on her website ......liliwhite.com
LILI WHITE ART STATEMENT --- SONG LYRIC SERIES
Like Jekyll & Hyde we are a duality consisting of both logic and emotions.
Colored by emotions, Edith Piaf wrote, "I'm looking at the world through rose-colored glasses." How does one see?
The "eyeglasses" of my Song Series illustrates the function of our mind, embracing both its logic and emotion.
The writing of songs or poems fuses passion into a form that brings what is being experienced to consciousness. The "eyeglasses" carry fragments from song lyrics in their right frame (the side of the logical mind), while the left frame carries a chaotic form of graphics (representing an area of un-focused stimulation.
My work continues the tradition of 20th century abstract art, and is influenced by Eastern philosophy and studies of Jungian theory - specifically, collective memory and quantum field theory. Materials are important to me and I let the energy come to me, rather than forming a plan for it. Previously, my work was purely abstract - open ended pages of freely running ink strokes of deliberate form and shape - written spontaneously without preconceived thought. On top of the strokes I place a plane of color that obliterates them, but engraving through this surface reveals new relationships. In principle, this method was designed so that it cannot be adjusted or amended; nor transcribed to another medium (like printmaking) without losing my original intention: for it to stand alone as witness to my process occurring at a specific moment in time.
My new paintings on paper, generated after 9/11/01, were inspired by song lyrics and poetry (some written by New York city poets). To the abstract field I've now added: lines of poetry; figurative forms derived from archetypal serpent and god/dess imagery; the genetic code letters (A, C, G, T); and media pictures of America's New War. The song, "Looking at Life Through Rose-Colored Glasses", motivated me to depict the eyeglass pieces that carry fragments of lyrics in their right frame.
Alluding to the state of flux that our planet is experiencing, my writing reveals the language of the body. Influenced by ancient Rock Art, inspired by changing skies, compounded with a willingness to use the element of chance, and a desire to perform physical movement through space, my designs suggest a continuing forever. Without pre-conceived ideas, I draw with a chaotic script that evokes the primitive mark, calligraphic figures and the Western alphabet. Looking into this work, one travels deeper inside of oneself and witnesses a moment similar to encountering ripples on a river, furniture between smoke, or the city in rain.
Lili White's previous works have often found their genesis in some found element of nature. A leaf, a shell, or related souvenir has been used as a starting point for a painting, video or installation piece. Often these works serve commentary on her experiences with Jungian thought.
In a new series of drawings she reverses her strategy by starting out with more modest art materials and finding a bit of nature. These drawings start with brush and ink lines that insinuate calligraphic forms on paper. A solid overlay of either metallic or opalescent color is then applied to obscure the lines of ink. Using various tools she engraves a new drawing onto the shiny surface. This secondary drawing interacts with the first to create a dizzying third that defies its two dimensional plane. The kaleidoscopic results pulsate as the matte ink and glossy oilstick reveal sub-patterns and meta-patterns. It's like being at a party where Rousseau and Boccioni are both talking to you at the same time and with a champagne buzz on. Elements lyrical, decorative, primitive and futuristic tumble together in these drawings like the cosmos one hopes to catch a glimpse of in Blake's grain of sand.
-- Anthony McLaughlin, Philadelphia
email ...... liliwhite2@aol dot com
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