Formation Series
by LaDawna Whiteside
mixed media on linen
For detailed information on individual paintings go to:
http://ladawnawhiteside.com/projects/paintings/formation/
Landscape
abstraction continues to be the primary focus of my artwork. My recent series,
Formation, recalls the familiar geological landscape where I live in the
Central United States. Arkansas is known for its landscape and natural beauty.
To me, abstract painting allows me to visually dissect the landscape and
provides an opportunity to communicate through sensory experiences. As my
paintings take form, my relationship with the earth continues to evolve over
time.
Northwest
Arkansas is part of an expansive geological site referred to as the U. S.
Interior Highlands situated between the Eastern Appalachians and the Western
Rocky Mountains. Building railroads and highways across the United States
required blasting through rock formations exposing geological cross sections
creating greater access to rural areas once inhabited primarily by natives and
my kinfolk.
The
Formation Series is intended to pay homage to the geological landscape.
Referencing a tonal color palette, I weave paint into layers, subtly shifting
back and forth between surface and depth. It is a mapping process with neutral
pigments as I spread paint across the surface directionally, to the north, south,
east and west. I look beyond obvious beauty toward feeling a connection to the
landscape for its powerful energy developing over billions of years and hosting
countless life forms. I am reminded that what lies beneath supports what lives
above.
From
the water’s edge, trickling streams and creeks, lined with rocks and boulders,
quenching the thirst of: flora and fauna, including ferns and fungi, as well
as, native hardwoods: the Sugar Maple, Shag Bark Hickory and Black Walnut
trees. I consider the idea that the human body and experience replicates the
landscape topography’s peaks and valleys. I am also reminded that my body is a
fragment within this landscape, existing for a delicate whisper in time.
And
to the contrary:
“From
my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity.”
—Edvard
Munch
