Rachel Lee
Artist Statement
A lot has happened in the past year, and yet at the same time it feels like nothing has changed at all. It was a period of weariness and enjoyment, frustration and contentment, dread and peace. Time stood still as it flew by. All of my thoughts, feelings, and experiences have become defining moments blended together into a giant blur.
In my work, I attempt to explore these concepts of turbulence, impermanence, transience, and change that seem to define my experience with the pandemic. Individual moments and emotions have been put down on transparent surfaces, which can then be layered one on top of another and rearranged. My paintings are constantly evolving-- they can be as suffocating and chaotic as I want them to be, or they can be empty and free. They are playful and lighthearted, and then they are not. They constantly interact with each other, each of my memories and feelings coming together to form different stories and just as quickly coming apart and going their separate ways. There is no one decisive moment -- each piece holds the same amount of weight and no weight at all.
