ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The artist wishes to acknowledge Theo Stavropoulos, master, teacher,
and mentor, who truly lived his art and who taught his students the rules
so that they would know to intelligently break them.
about.
Patricia Genova was born in the Bronx, NY. She has taught at Lehman College, and Iona College
and is currently an Assistant Professor at Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY teaching painting, sculpture, and drawing. She has exhibited in solo and group shows in NYC
and the surrounding metropolitan area. She currently resides in Connecticut.
She has been the recipient of various awards including the Artist Fellowship Grant for Painting
through the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development
and a PSC-CUNY award for Painting.
Journey of Artistic Evolution: Navigating the Language of the Visual
How does one summarize, in a few short paragraphs, years of working at one’s art, an evolution of thought, vision and process?
I have been extremely fortunate in having been initiated into the “language of the visual” many years ago and continue to be reinitiated every time I approach a blank canvas. It is knowledge of a universality that ties all those who participate in creating Art. This visual language, evidenced in masters’ works from every age, is unique in that it addresses the pictorial as to how and why an image “works”. Beyond subject matter, traditional or contemporary iconography and personal preferences, it is the foundation from which springs a personal dialogue with one’s work.
The concept of “study”, encompassing serious search, establishing aesthetic problems and finding solution, has been the process in the creation of the work presented; a process not for the faint-hearted but the journey every serious artist must make. It results in continuity, a visual witness to one’s individual path of growth and evolution.
And if image “arrives” or comes into being, it is the birth of an idea made visible, which takes form and becomes part of an existence independent of its creator. It is timeless; it is work that becomes a link in a chain of universal thought that extends back to the cave paintings of our ancestors.
Of course, it is the ultimate reward to establish a vision and be swept away
by something greater than oneself.
Ribbons
The “Ribbon Series”. 1980–95. The semblance of ribbon was chosen as an object because it lent itself to unique opportunities in dealing with contrasts of scale, light, and dramatic compositional possibilities.
The early work used ribbon as a still-life object and was more formalized and representational in approach.
As the work progressed, a figurative element was suggested. A limited palette was chosen to create a maximum coloristic effect through an economy of means.
Chairs
The concept for the “Chair Series”, initially started in 1999, was derived from studies
using a studio chair as a model in some drawing exercises.
An empty chair in space is a strong visual metaphor that suggests an emotional and psychological context as well. A certain “Presence of absence” pervades throughout the work and evokes much more
than mere observance of objects in space.
One might wonder if human presence will arrive or has already exited.
A common feature in these works is the use of simple objects as models. For this artist, they are points of departure in which to establish, explore, and solve aesthetic problems.
And while not denying that even in their “ordinariness” these objects have meaning, it is the hope that these images evoke something larger than mere representation or allegory.
Flowers
The drawings from the “Flowers Series” include both large and small drawings. The subject, flowers, have been humanity’s constant companion, accompanying us in times of love, grief, and joy, and whose very fragrance can instantly evoke memories from the past.
Here they are the vehicle of excursions into new artistic journeys. The drawings themselves eschew overt elaboration and ornamentation and strive to capture the essence of objectness, light, and shadow and to create a drama that borders on the precipice of visual disintegration.
