taryn trousdale
Posted on 17. Mar, 2011 by Carrie in muse
words > MATTHEW CLAGG
More than just an imitation of life, painted images are a look into an artists ideas and their intimate individualized perspectives of life. This can lead to depictions of scenes with no visual connection to the natural world or familiar landmarks. Using specific moments of recognition Taryn Trousdale pulls the viewer into her chaotic and abstract paintings and invites them to explore scenes overflowing with emotional and subconscious information. “Recognizable elements, such as eyes, hands, faces, etc., become points of access, providing a stepping-stone pathway into the more emotionally deep and non-representational areas of the artwork,” says Trousdale. These moments of recognition are anchors in a sea of abstract brush strokes and heavy masses of color. In many of her paintings Trousdale uses the figure as an immediately recognizable and accessible image, but from there she pushes into abstraction and into another deeper layer of content. Within this second layer the inner reality of the depicted figure becomes visible; the viewer is invited to see not only the outer appearance of a person but to experience the subconscious reality of the artist.
Trousdale mines her own experiences and emotions to create her paintings. Using dream imagery as a beginning source she explores and visualizes her subconscious, bringing to the surface the ideas and motivations that create a personality. “Each painting is like a bottle,” she says, “where I try to distill the emotional essence of particularly vivid dreams for my own sake as well as for sharing the experience with others.” Seeking to raise an awareness of the subconscious and its important role in self- exploration Trousdale puts her own inner reality on display, dredging up everything in order to find a connection with the viewer. Some images are inspiring, others disturbing, but from each a part of the artist is displayed, revealing something new about the interior world of the mind.
