And They Opened Up

Abstract

"My painting, And They Opened Up, is part of an investigation of my experience with aging and generational difference within a family unit. Through painting, I examine how the relationship between grandparent and grandchild captures two connected parties operating at opposite ends of the spectrum of life. I am particularly interested in how this relationship shapes each person’s understanding of their own vitality and mortality.

Yellow plays a significant role in the work as a visual element binding the corporeal to the metaphysical and tying abstraction to representational imagery. As paint, yellow contains fewer options than any other color in the palette, which further reinforces its presence as an illustration of the tenuous relationship between the two points of development that grandchild and grandparent attempt to navigate."