Primary Medium: Paint
Other media: Printmaking, Drawing, Collage

Tags : Still-life, Figurative, Psychological, Cerebral, Playful

Truth or Consequences
CWOS Location: Alternative Space
NH Register Bldg, 3rd Weekend
New Haven, CT 06511
Phone: 203-287-1751
Email: valerie (dot) richardson (at) yale (dot) edu

Website: http://valerierichardson.com

Artist Statement
I've returned this year to painting still-lifes, a subject matter I haven't explored in-depth since graduate school. During those Rah-Rah Reagan years, when material culture and displays of wealth reigned supreme, it started to feel sort of icky to be painting THINGS, and by doing so to create a painting that itself became a commodity.

I recently bought a couple of beautiful animal skeletons (rat and pigeon) because I thought they would be fun to draw. Then I decided to populate the drawings with other objects that had alluring qualities of color and meaning.

As always for me, the observation and the thing represented is secondary to the process of making marks and opening myself up to the unspoken and unexpected reality that exists beyond the picture frame.