Mary Jane Duffy
Region: Midwest
These works are meditations on the sublime. The idea of the sublime describes man's experience of nature as a force that is beautiful and yet overwhelming. Today our relationship to nature has changed. The sublime now is reserved for man and man-made things. Technology, the globalization and other aspects of contemporary culture now inspire one to feel an overwhelming awe and fear.
In these paintings at times the viewer sees only dots and a flat space, at other times the work might seem deep or endless. Dividing lines reference a landscape, or a technological space- TV static or a computer's division of screen. The dot or mark in the work has multiple references. Sometimes they might appear as TV snow, other times pixels. They are bits of information streaming across the web. They are a representation of one individual among many. The viewer focuses on one dot or mark while in their peripheral vision, a multitude of dots swirl and pulse. Paint is used in a romantic, emotional way; meant to intoxicate, dazzle and seduce the viewer. Scale, mark and color are used to express one's experience of the sublime; overwhelming, uncontrollable, constantly shifting.