Statement

There are moments when I take notice of two kinds of time occurring simultaneously — a peripheral sense of anticipation for the next action to happen, alongside an overlay of timelessness existing only in split seconds. This recognition occurs randomly during a day; blankly staring out my backyard window, watching birds fly from the feeder into the trees, floating in the ocean on a blue sky afternoon, eyes at the horizon line, not particularly in search of anything.

The images in my paintings are of observed and imagined places where one can be in relationship with others and the world and the self. My use of perspective, scale, proportion, pattern and subtly shifting color are visual elements that create a slight perceptual and physical dislocation,like one might feel encountering a one hundred year old bonsai tree.

These paintings are places where many kinds of time overlap. Concrete and ephemeral. There but not there. Phenomenon and mirage. They are places where the struggle at the intersection of time and timelessness might dissolve.

Gail Spaien
September 2023