Kristen McClarty
Artist Statement for Head Under Water
The artworks presented are from my abstract series Head Under Water, where the colours and shapes tell a story of my own body under water, in a place that holds me.
In these works, I have played along a continuum of process, from the more logical and carefully executed woodcut, to state prints printed on ethereal Japanese hemp lace, progressing to loose and painterly oil monotype printed in multiple layers, and ending with the quickest and most spontaneous screen print monotypes, where the full image is painted and hand pulled in a matter of half an hour. By working in this way, I have been able to build up a series that populates a spectrum of intention and time, from premeditated to spontaneous and instinctive, where one mark slips into another, reveling in the unregistered and unmatched. In this place, the world has slipped away, and I am Head Under Water.
