The Moon in Exile

The paintings in “The Moon in Exile” explore color as breath that moves between an inside and an outside, the body as a site where nature and culture collide, and ideas of the feminine associated with the moon. These paintings are an amalgam of representations of the female body that draw from antiquity to the present. Their titles are derived from the names of lunar deities across various cultures. Like the moon, these bodies stand alone in contemplation, reflecting light and holding shadows. These works start with a loose outline followed by washes of paint that get absorbed into the weave of the canvas. I layer colors over each other until I find a tone and composition that resonates with me on a visceral level. After the image emerges, I work on it with oils to build textures and refine hues. There is no plan. Each painting is a search guided by interactions of color and form to which I respond intuitively. In my work, color breaths translucent bodies, and otherworldly greenery of porous outlines. Leaf-like forms stand in for nature - marking time and change- while circular shapes appear as voids, faces, mirrors, and light sources. These figures hold the world and at the same time spill themselves into it. I began this series of paintings in Oaxaca early this year. “The Moon in Exile” comes out of a period of solitude and introspection informed by the landscape and my history with Mexico. It is a reflection on the passage of time that unfolds in cycles, such as that of the moon, nature, and history, seen from the perspective of a body that acknowledges its finitude. These works carry within them traces of my memories. Through their colors and their forms, I recall sensations and feelings that connect me to different times and places. They explore and question inherited ideas of the feminine and express a desire to connect with something larger than myself.