Content

This work is a collage of personal marks and symbols which when combined creates an animated union of adolescence and adult realities. It is about making sense of the past and reconciling it with the present, and recognizing where the notion of choice has sometimes been an illusion. This idea of choice is represented in several ways: the archetypal staircase, the open door and the grouping of two chairs. The question poised-does the viewer climb the stairs or descends, choose one chair over the other?and then what are the consequences of these preferences? The juxtaposition of the large young girl?s head looming behind the toy-sized venetian blinds could symbolize the act of innocently ?peeping?, or the more sinister deed of the sexually motivated 'peeping Tom.' The inconsistency of the proportions will allow the viewer to come to their own conclusion of the various objects importance. The metaphor of the suspended upside down black bird is one of foreboding, leading to the notion that all is not right. The rope is a simile for either holding on or reluctantly releasing.

Context: I view most of my work as being essentially self-portraits; as a German artist friend would say with great distaste, " self referential Americans". This piece focuses on the gender stereotyping I experienced and witnessed while growing up in a Southern California white suburban neighborhood in the 1960's. During recess the standard was for girls to play jump rope and paddy cake while reciting verses and rhymes innocuously laden with gender training myths. One learns through stories, parables and gaming without realizing one is assimilating many of life's lessons, all be it out dated.

Form: The "painting" is divided into four panels. A continuous horizon line, which invents an unbroken landscape, connects the top three sections; but the perspective is contrary to the individual objects in each panel. I wanted the three panels to create their own individual scenarios.The viewer could then visually and mentally connect the four separate short stories to make up the whole.The scale of the over sized girl's head juxtaposed with the images in the top panels emphasizes their adolescent quality, and their importance.The objects positioned above her head could represent her daydreams, nightmares, or her memories of childhood, or all three.The complexity of the layers in the bottom section depicts the complexity of "learned lessons?"

Technique: I tended to use the 'sharp tools' in most of the categories: sharp pencil, pen, chalk and charcoal. I guess it is the closest I could get to how I normally work. I wanted the images to be separate, yet have over lapping distinctive edges. It seemed whenever I used the paintbrushes and their varies methods of application, the images lost all their clarity and significance. The thickness of the line was normally thin. The quality of graininess I used was soft; I found the higher quantity of graininess produced too much texture and this blurred the images. Lastly, I discovered the difference between the freehand and straight-line icons. For me the straight line tool was Painter 5.5's saving grace.

© Lynn Criswell 2000