“Whim, Fancy, Curiosity,” artist Sydney Van Orden’s senior thesis exhibition, will bring a room full of beauty to the Biola Art Gallery this Monday, Dec. 10.
The show (open through Jan. 15) includes 20 abstract pieces – twelve on wood panel and eight on paper. The pieces involve a variety of materials, including acrylic paint, fabric, thread, wax, sequins, tape and foam.
Van Orden’s creative process begins when she sets up a visual problem. For example, she covers a freshly-built panel with brightly colored, floral patterned fabric, then mixes up a particular color of paint and spills it over the fabric, creating a pair of systems that clash.
Van Orden then steps back to contemplate her next move — something that will begin to bring order to the visual chaos. She gradually reconciles her two initial actions with one another, leaving enough tension to keep the piece interesting and playful. She asks herself what would grow out of that fabric pattern or spill out of this sea of paint, and adds materials to work within the systems she establishes.
These paintings become visually delightful records of the processes Van Orden performs to bring a bit of harmony into each 2-by-2-foot world. Meticulously painted areas sit alongside spontaneous dripping and spilling.
“I start with things I find pleasurable — like bright colors — and work with them to try to come to a more complex and pleasurable result,” Van Orden said.
Compared with the complex, layered, labor-intensive, multi-media paintings on panel, the eight paper pieces in the exhibition are simple. Van Orden gave herself a rule for this series: do only one thing to the sheet of watercolor paper. Each piece is the result of a carefully considered single process.
“It’s about pleasure. It’s not about trying to decode a secret language,” said Van Orden about her artwork.
There are no representational images or symbols in the pieces, nothing to figure out what the artist meant to say. The artist’s intention is for viewers to be attracted to the visual feast, draw meaning from her process, and spend time enjoying the beauty.
