Carol Duchamp 2014
Chance Encounters
Artwork by Carol Duchamp
An aesthetic exploration
of color, space and fluidity
November 14-December 6, 2014
Reception: November 14 • 5–8pm
You, the viewer, are invited to travel through these paintings as though on a pilgrimage or journey into the unknown. Take the time to see, rather than simply look or glance. You may discover everchanging qualities in the color, form, and emotional impact, not unlike the creative dialogue I experience as I paint.
These paintings are to be contemplated; viewed again and again. It is possible that your mood or state of mind will be reflected back to you. It is possible that you will notice a beautiful passage or configuration you had not seen before. Return to these paintings as one would to an intimate.
Astounded by the dance of paint moving over the surface of the paper and the nature of the mediums, I respond — completely caught up in the present moment. My process is one of exploration. I welcome the marriage between chance and intention that occurs with the inherent spontaneity of painting wet-into-wet on presoaked paper.
There is alchemy here, and a great deal of trust in a multidimensional reality that includes the invisible, for example. We are touched by the visible, the world we see around us everyday. And we are often more touched by the expressive quality of art that leads us to recognize that which is not always visible.
Recent breakthroughs in physics and neuroscience have shown that all is not as it appears. The material world is farreaching, mysterious, interconnected in unfathomable ways, full of subtle energy, divine. Is it a stretch to consider that visual art is its own language, resonating like music with its own form and color scale? Is it a stretch to consider that we resonate, like a musical instrument, when moved by a particular painting?
My hope is that you will experience in these paintings the beauty, reflections, and amazement manifest in spontaneous creation. These works on paper are a celebration of the meeting between the medium (color, space, fluidity of form), the physical and psychic energy of the artist, and you, the viewer. Enjoy!
Artist Statement:
My paintings are a celebration of the encounter between the mediums, the artist and the viewer. The paintings are invitations to wordless experience, a poetics of the invisible made visible. I create visual symphonies, lush portals that announce a pilgrimage or journey into the unknown.
My process is one of aesthetic exploration. I pre-soak a large sheet of heavy weight watercolor paper, and begin the painting with expressive strokes of color. From here I improvise, as though playing a jazz riff. Chance, spontaneity, and inner landscape are keys.
When I was very young I spotted an iridescent blue racer snake slithering through the tall green grass. In that moment of childlike wonder and enhanced perception, I fell in love with color.
I paint feeling tone, dreams, states of heart and mind – give form to the formless. I take the raw materials of life, transform and interpret them. There is contact with the external world and symbolic process internally. Then comes the painting!
Biography
Carol is best known for her vibrant colors and fluid abstract compositions in the mediums of acrylic and watercolor. Her paintings are “an aesthetic exploration of color, space and fluidity.” They are rich in color, lushly saturated, sensual in form, and have been described as “cosmic, flowing and full of light.”
“Known for her watercolor paintings, artist Carol Duchamp utilizes watercolor technique with fluid acrylics in saturated colors worked wet into wet rag paper. Her work is like a jazz riff on a melody of color that starts with a single long stroke. Sensitive to the energy of the moment, she follows the cues of the colors’ movements with spontaneity. Abstract expressionism hasn’t been this happy since Sam Francis!” Claudia Chapline
Carol holds an MA in Sociology from the University of Strasbourg, France. She is an exhibiting artist, art educator, transformative arts facilitator and former curator of Art at IONS. 2012-14 solo exhibits include INTIMATIONS at the Institute of Noetic Science EarthRise Gallery in Petaluma, SUBJECTIVITIES at Commonweal Gallery in Bolinas, ALEATORY IMAGES at East West Optimum Healthy (Mill Valley) and Crome Architecture (San Rafael), and CHANCE ENCOUNTERS at Art Works Downtown (San Rafael).
Carol is passionate about the healing powers of creativity, and imagination as essential creative principle. She taught Healing Art Transition courses at UC Santa Cruz Extension and enjoys helping others nurture their inner artist. She studied Transformative Arts in the Arts and Consciousness MA program at JFKU in Berkeley.
