Elizabeth Gilfilen

Region: Northeast

Website: http://www.bethgilfilen.com

City / State: Brooklyn, NY

My paintings begin with drawing. Accumulated marks grow and deviate; torqued forms emerge from the decisions I make in paint. A kinetic energy can take over, yet I strive for a tension in each mark that is sprung almost as tight as the coils and tendons that create it. Through total immersion in this painting act, I build interlocked layers of knotted forms I feel I can climb onto or put my arms around. These exist in an unfixed space as every move transforms the work into something else. As soon as I recognize form, I am compelled to deny it, causing me to revisit the work over many months. Slippages between making and locating images give me access to a provocative space that is continuously redefined. I seek that moment when multiple approaches to the painting reward us with the complexity of something that is tangible, yet unnameable.