Wabi Sabi 64 By: Silvia Poloto

Artist Statement: This body of work is an examination of letting go – of attitudes, old beliefs, dreams and emotions. A clearing of all things unnecessary in order to strip bare to the essential. Within this context, the emptiness is full, and holds potential for all unfolding moments.

This work began when I was building my home. The relationship between me and the structure of my home was felt. Was lived. As if I was inside one of my paintings. From the outside, from the inside out, me and the empty space, me and the objects, how the objects were placed, the relationship among each other and the negative space around it, and me standing around each one. I became an active part of the space as much as a passive one. I saw myself having total control over it and not having any control at all, as if experiencing all potentiality. The result was a breathing space for the eye and mind, surrounded by the sea and the sky.

What I sought with my living space, and continues with my artwork, is a kind of essential refined simplicity reduced to the extreme, understated and unassuming yet not without presence and quiet authority. A breathing space.

For this body of work, I use paper as a primary medium – gluing and pulling the paper back leaving marks which become the brushstrokes, the underlying structure of the painting. The nicks, chips, bruises, scars and dents each add to their undiminished poise and strength of character. Imperfect and unpredictable yet inevitable. They don’t shout, they whisper.