Edie Nadelhaft Artist Statement

EDIE NADELHAFT

Images CV Statement

Artist’s Statement

Attraction, Repulsion and Scrutiny:
My current work is a visual representation of the act of scrutiny. The images are taken from the natural world, cows and common houseflies distorted through photography and digital manipulation, then tightly cropped to create drama and tension at the canvas' edge. The scale is distorted and the perspective changes from close to extreme close-up as the subject evolves from a cow's face to a detail of that face culminating in a portrait of a greatly enlarged creature on the landscape of the cow's furry hide. The expectation is that dissection and magnification will ultimately lead to simplification and clarity. The reality is more like playing with Russian nesting dolls: further investigation reveals the same or an even greater level of complexity - a tiny universe within.

Subjects that provoke simultaneously disparate impulses are of particular interest to me. Things that appear on the surface to be one thing but after further consideration suggest something entirely in conflict with the first impression: things that are at once cuddly and threatening, beautiful and repugnant. Flies, for instance, are tiny and relatively harmless, yet they are associated (quite rightly) with garbage, death and excrement. An extremely close look reveals delicate, opalescent wings and a broad range of color and texture in the body. The enormous distortion of scale in the paintings renders them monstrous while bringing the beauty of the creature into sharp focus.

While subject matter is important, it is the profound sensual and emotional potency of color and the paint itself that really drive the work. The images are painted using the tools of the modernist cannon: color and shape are independent elements along with paint handling that heightens texture and illusion. Many of the works are painted on multiple canvases for breaking the image up further facilitates the focus on concentrated areas and my subsequent immersion in the description of the detail therein without the distraction of context. Panels become little abstract compositions unto themselves which are purposely conjoined in a temporary manner to enable deconstruction by means of rearrangement or spacing in the display.

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EDIE NADELHAFT Images CV Statement Artist’s Statement Attraction, Repulsion and Scrutiny: My current work is a visual representation of the act of scrutiny. The images are taken from the natural world, cows and common houseflies distorted through photography and digital manipulation, then tightly cropped to create drama and tension at the canvas' edge. The scale is distorted and the perspective changes from close to extreme close-up as the subject evolves from a cow's face to a detail of that face culminating in a portrait of a greatly enlarged creature on the landscape of the cow's furry hide. The expectation is that dissection and magnification will ultimately lead to simplification and clarity. The reality is more like playing with Russian nesting dolls: further investigation reveals the same or an even greater level of complexity - a tiny universe within. Subjects that provoke simultaneously disparate impulses are of particular interest to me. Things that appear on the surface to be one thing but after further consideration suggest something entirely in conflict with the first impression: things that are at once cuddly and threatening, beautiful and repugnant. Flies, for instance, are tiny and relatively harmless, yet they are associated (quite rightly) with garbage, death and excrement. An extremely close look reveals delicate, opalescent wings and a broad range of color and texture in the body. The enormous distortion of scale in the paintings renders them monstrous while bringing the beauty of the creature into sharp focus. While subject matter is important, it is the profound sensual and emotional potency of color and the paint itself that really drive the work. The images are painted using the tools of the modernist cannon: color and shape are independent elements along with paint handling that heightens texture and illusion. Many of the works are painted on multiple canvases for breaking the image up further facilitates the focus on concentrated areas and my subsequent immersion in the description of the detail therein without the distraction of context. Panels become little abstract compositions unto themselves which are purposely conjoined in a temporary manner to enable deconstruction by means of rearrangement or spacing in the display.