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Having grown up in New York City, my work was particularly influenced by the first and second generation of abstract expressionists. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have attended the High School of Music and Art. In many ways, those three years were the most exhilarating times, filled with new discoveries, techniques and exposure to a most remarkable teaching staff and student body.
Being a third-generation artist within my family meant that early on I became immersed in the creative process. In the late 1920s, my mother was among the first women to receive a scholarship to NYC's National Academy of Design. My two older sisters also attended the High School of Music and Art and continued their artistic pursuits in college and graduate school.Begun while in high school and further developed at New York University, my use of mixed-media became a signature in the many bodies of work that followed. The exploration of color, light and texture has always been an integral part of my creative process.
The earliest work represented here, AUTOMATIC DRAWING was done while still in my teens. The other works are from my EARTH STAINS series, begun around 1970 shortly after graduation. This more than thirty-year, ongoing series is based upon my impressions of the land and a sense of place. An early example shown here, SENSATIONS was done while in Spain; the other two examples were created in my New York studio.I have always felt that the time spent living and working outside of New York -- in Spain, Morocco, Mexico, Los Angeles -- has provided an abundance of stimuli and experiences that have all helped to open a dialogue with artists from many parts of the world.
After receiving a 1978 painting fellowship to Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, NY, a collaboration began with my husband, Dennis Paul, of layering the photographic and painterly into a seamless fusion of nude, landscape and Kabbalah imagery -- examples of which may be found throughout our website. In the last decade, there have been expanded components that include digital photography and video, SoundScapes that accompany our multimedia, site-specific installations, and collaborations with other visual and performing artists, musicians, and writers.
My EARTH STAINS paintings and works on paper have evolved into the series - Golden Light and Shimmering Light. In the fall of 2003, during a second residency fellowship to Yaddo, this ongoing series evolved, yet again, into Autumn Light. In that same year, I was also a finalist for the prestigious Gottlieb Foundation grant.After my last Yaddo residency, as part of the Golden Light - California series, I began creating Monotypes that incorporate specimens from the landscape found in Topanga, Berkeley and other locales with imagined forms and textures that I find appealing and intriguing in their shapes, colors and relationship to the land.
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A complex and diverse tapestry. |
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Vast arrays |
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Of shapes and textures |
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colors and sounds |
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Man is but a strand in the web of life |
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©1993-2023 - CoLabART - Lynn Small + Dennis Paul
All rights reserved.
