Blue Skies is an idea that represents a familiar occurrence/image, a vast space and an idealized state. It addresses both the limit of a sense, in the way that I can't see beyond a blue sky and the awareness that it is not a flat surface. This 'space' cuts both ways through the things I know and the things I believe. I am interested in the vulnerability fostered by this 'space' and the complex naïveté its experience requires.

The paintings suggest a loose narrative supported by sentimental imagery, both broad and subjective. They are precious and seductive. The texture is that of overripe fruit and plastic flowers, the smell is of drugstore perfume. The colours describe objects as icons and vibrate in and of themselves. The illusions on the surface of the paintings tell of contradictory spaces and circumstances. The imagery in the paintings show anthropomorphic objects turned into characters, icons, sloppy feelings, romantic idealists and slogans. In layering these images and symbols of happiness, a certain fragility materialized; the sum of this abundance simultaneously questions its own plausibility and asserts a ravenous desire for more.

Kristi Ropeleski 2010

LINK TO TEXT BY EDWIN JANZEN