As a photographer and a painter, I love to combine elements of both disciplines into unique works that comment heavily on the past. “Nostalgia” is a word I often hear in discussion of my artwork. I use my art as both homage to this nostalgia and a commentary on how false and incomplete this sense of nostalgia truly is.
When we view photographs, we often learn more about the photographer than anyone or anything in the image. Photographers choose what they shoot and are therefore able to manipulate what the viewer sees, feels, and understands about the image. The same is true of painters. Painters arrange compositions and idealize details to control what they portray.
Many of my photographs document decaying or forgotten structures. When I spot these columned homes and clapboard chapels through my viewfinder, I wonder if these structures speak of simpler, more romantic times. Or, perhaps more likely, the crumbling plaster, rotting foundations, and broken glass eliminate the façade of idealized nostalgia, more accurately portraying the lives that were lived within the walls of such structures.
In addition to creating my own photography through dark room processes, I also manipulate old family negatives. Through double exposures and hand coloring, I am able to comment again on the false nature with which we view images, particularly those of an earlier time.
I also use these medium-format negatives to create cyanotypes on which I paint. I am a colorist and use both oils and acrylics, often straight from the tube in their brightest, most garish form. I embellish my paintings with found objects, glitter, and rhinestones. Through these materials, I am able to change images of the past into what I wish they were. Once again, I try to manipulate the viewer’s feelings by catering to an innate fondness of nostalgia. I surround my paintings with borders of found objects that are either broken or damaged. This contrasts the picture-perfect quality of the image, leading to a sense of unease.
When I speak with viewers, they are often surprised to learn the often-unpleasant history of the people and events portrayed in my pieces. Just as we idealize history in general, we each idealize our family histories by thumbing through photo albums, watching old home movies, or hearing stories about great aunt something-or-other. My paintings are my way of sharing the truth about my family and subsequently, myself.
Contact Information:
Amy Moore
812.682.0269
aemoore2@gmail.com
|
|
|
