Karen H. Salup
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The following information was provided by the artist unless otherwise noted.
As with artists of every era, I suppose I am searching for a kind of underlying unity and order that takes into account the materials on hand, a method, and a fairly clear personal point of view. Basic elements are what interest me - form, space, content, and especially the qualities of color and light. As a painting evolves, I find myself making many changes which reveal and suggest other possible directions. Thus there is an ongoing shift of centers of interest, if not in the basic structure itself.
In some of my more recent work I have been employing basic shapes, usually rectangular, both singly and in clusters. As these shapes become spatially fixed on the canvas, I proceed to "undo" the whole concept by activating the background with a sort of nervous brush stroke activity that strikes up against the original shapes. This results in a degree of varying tensions and spatial ambiguity that I accept and actually value. At times a shimmering, lyrical quality can be the result of that ambiguity.
The fast drying, acrylic medium allows me to work in a freer, more sustained manner. I am better able to add, eliminate, reject, and, ideally, refine the painting, guided by judgments that can find immediate application. Intuition, a sense of scale, and "feels right" all play a big part, and the very experience of painting becomes its own reward.
I am concerned about trying to more completely fulfill my own personal idea of what a painting is all about. I sense that, by achieving a closer unity of visual imagery with what happens on the completed canvas, I will become more aware of larger elements as well as subtle nuances, and thus be able to express myself more forcefully and clearly. At the same time, no matter how successful a painting might be, I would still hope some things might remain unsaid and hidden.
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