ZOE BLOCK

Artist Statement June 2022

This portfolio features work that embodies the elements of manipulative photography and the principles of expressionist painting. I intended the series to encapsulate a moment within a composition of color and textures.

When I was 15, I built a pinhole camera out of an oatmeal container. I had painted before and used a hand-me-down point and shoot now and then for fun, but in making this camera, I started to understand photography as an art form. The pinhole camera taught me to consider the content of the frame and the power of light to reveal enough negative and positive information so one can discern the subject. I learned the elements that provoke and establish one's feelings in photos – not just in the choice of what is being photographed, but how the artist chooses to go about the process of post-production. Eventually, I got a DSLR camera, and since then, I've had unlimited opportunities to experiment.

My photographs are intended to capture expressive intimate moments revealing figurative and non-figurative forms. My work has been inspired by the subject and expression of Cy Twombly's ethereal work, specifically the Lyrical Variations and the Home and Studios Collections. The work created by Stephane Sednaou in Paris in 1989 distorts reality offering a sense of repeating position or motion. For my portfolio series, I attempted to recreate a similar viewing experience by photographing multiple subjects as a series of long exposed portraits that revealed the motion of another person's movement and expressions as captured. My process included the use of post-production as a tool to enhance distortion and exaggerate the colors and textures to create a sense of feeling within a frame.

I am fascinated by the differences between taking a photo and completing a painting. A photo can provide instant gratification, whereas, with painting, there is always a process to endure. The acrylics in this portfolio are inspired by the elements around me and all I see. I paint layer by layer until all the problems on the canvas are solved until there are no more choices to make. Sometimes a problem can be that I make a painting and later feel bored looking at it. I'll paint over it until I feel the piece is worth my attention, constantly asking myself: Are the lines working? Is it too chaotic? How can I provoke an unexpected reaction or response? I never say that a painting is done until I appreciate every inch of the canvas.