July- Counsel Langley
This dot is the boss of that dot. This color is “on,” that one is “off.” Electricity flows through the black lines, the blue ones are paths to travel . . .
With acrylic, ink and immodest amounts of glitter I make paintings using two opposing approaches. One, loose painting techniques such as dripping, pours, splatters, which I use to create effective representations of natural elements—weather, water, clouds, smoke, flora, erosion, growth, galaxies . . . . The other approach, that of the tool user, with pen and ink and architects’ templates, drafting implements and compasses, I fastidiously draw controlled lines, concentric circles, grids and repetitive dots; these reflect structures and infrastructures that we build.
I am influenced by the look of outer space, computer chips, dramatic weather, electric circuits, decay, rock-n-roll glamour, plans and diagrams, b-rate sci-fi control panels, urban environments, fluid turbulence, engineering schematics and architectural drawings.
I work in order to think about why and where we live, what we build, how we feel, what we do, and what happens when these things intersect.
The beginning of feeling out the series Girls Meets Universe:
Girl Meets Universe is an opportunity to look into the abstract worlds of my previous works and uncover the people and objects that inhabit those spaces. In this work, I am also examining one of my favorite states of being. A cool passion of focused hunger and energy that comes on as emerging confidence in the face of a slightly menacing unknown. In some cases the backgrounds of these pieces represent grime, explosions, ruin, deep space full to the brim with dark matter, but in all cases refer to that which is bigger than the individual.
This work is also about the challenge of rendering specificity and subtle emotion in chunky glitter. I have found it very satisfying to work a face and/or the posture of the body until the individual and a sense of their experience–sometimes ambivalence–comes through.
-Counsel Langley