Pattern Makers

2009
Lisa Sette Gallery

Pattern Makers is a group of works based on my parallel interest in Persian Miniatures and Traditional Japanese Scroll Paintings. While looking at both genres I found similar patterns which I combined into a singular composition.  Yet at the same time, I wanted the paintings to bring together the aesthetics of each genre that are so culturally and compositionally opposite.

The Persian Miniatures have intense color, minute attention to detail, and a corralling of nature, all of which are enhanced by the limitation of a single viewer, a seemingly controlled experience. On the other hand, the Japanese Scroll Paintings are inherently expansive in their reach. Their focus on nature is much more expansive and unbridled.  There are vast panoramic scenes that are aided by the genre’s composition and can be viewed by many at a time.

My challenge in these works was to combine both expansiveness and inclusiveness into one painting, whilst using the similarities of pattern and use of gold as a foundation for my process.