[IN]FINITE

SHANNON TURNER

March 21 – 24, 2019
Opening reception Friday March 22, 7:00pm-9:00pm

In this body of work, I attempt to create a sense of recurrence through the use of pattern and repetition. Despite the geometry and precision of some of the marks, there are imperfections within them that reveal the artist’s hand. The decisions made, consciously or subconsciously, allow the viewer to see the sincerity of each image and the influence of time and movement in each drawing.

When creating the work, I allow my mind to become at ease and fully trust the process of rhythmic and repetitive unconscious motion. I create each work one at a time, to allow myself to become fully immersed in the motion that my hand creates while drawing. I find this meditative process results in a calm state of mind. I synthesize discipline with spiritual connection and restraint with exaltation.

My work references artists such as Agnes Martin’s modernist works, the post-modern installations of Yayoi Kusama and the conceptual practice of Sol LeWitt. Agnes Martin’s pattern-based paintings elicit the sort of calm I seek while Yayoi Kusama finds mental and emotional solace in obsessive, repetitive pattern. Sol LeWitt’s practice included establishing a set of “rules” for creating a work which is a strategy that I have employed in these works. Artist Robert Ryman writes, “My painting is not limited at all. I have many possibilities in terms of approach. And the reason I have that is because I am not limited by a certain narrative that I want to get across.” This statement has resonated with me and applies to my process as well. I’m not as interested in creating a narrative as I am in creating an experience for a viewer.