STATEMENT

My paintings are a narrative of longing and desire through decay; each layer appearing to peel, slide, or break away through time and by weather, revealing what came before and a secret about the place or object exposed. For the past five years I have been exploring the idea of “secrets” in this fashion, mostly in the realm of the Feminine. The female figures in my work represent undeclared desires, dreams, memories, and fantasies; through them, I explore the longing universal to the peoples historically under the jurisdiction of men, subject to childbearing, cooking and cleaning, financial inequality, and being sex objects. To achieve this, I construct my work with a multitude of materials; oil paint, lace, and fabrics handmade traditionally by women for women (like wedding veils, doilies, quilts), photographs, and all manner of found objects. They are layered, then pealed, sanded, or scraped to reveal each anterior level, and often an outward-gazing figure beneath.

Aryn Chapman

Aryn Chapman

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