Marika Madimenos
3rd Year, Major in Studio Art and Art History

Explanations #5
Four panels, each 30″ x 30″
Total, 60″ x 60″
Acrylic on canvas
2019

Artist Statement:

This project began with a realization: I found that I was evolving in a different way compared to everyone around me. I think outside the box to solve the simplest situations, such as creating the most detailed project at school that does not even count towards a grade. I have been told that I am too negative when I prepare for any and every bad outcome. However, I see this preparation as a way to ensure that only a good outcome will occur. These comments feel similar to hearing a language that sounds familiar; you think you can speak it, but no one is actually able to hear or understand you. The central idea of Explanations #5 was to create a work which showcases a visual, abstract representation of my thought process. This work consists of four panels, each 30” by 30” and was completed in December 2019 using acrylic paints on canvas. Explanations #5 is only one part of a larger series which displays ideas and themes that everyone encounters daily: our passions, our relationship towards music, religion, sexuality, and more. No one will fully understand the inner workings of another’s mind, but this painting is meant to allow the artist and the viewers to recognize the bigger ideas which transform and shape each of us throughout the duration of our lives.

This particular work in the series represents the passion one finds through one’s life. This is why I consider it to be the most elaborate piece in the series. Details among these panels were chosen uniquely and represent my perception and views on subjects similar to what I have listed above. This series is more personal because of my choice to use pointillism throughout each panel. The seemingly endless number of little dots which make this work helps create a clearer picture. While I might find things complicated and unbearable in my own head, the thoughts as depicted with paint are never muddy. Through my choice of patterns and designs, I created an overwhelming mechanical feeling within the paintings to express that our minds and our thoughts are transforming and evolving constantly; a clear evolution hence the presence of confidently dotted colours which bear complexity, nonetheless.

There should be no shame in someone taking extra time to understand where another’s views derive from. It is very possible that this series and approach to painting will continue in my future work. I have always believed that our minds, just as our ideas and potential, are limitless; in a constant transformative state, and so this series will be as well.