My work addresses the conflict between two different orders: the order of a flat, two-dimensional pattern and the order of perspective. Patterns are taken from domestic materials: curtains, dishtowels, clothing or invented from natural forms. At some point in each piece, the pattern is disrupted by a reference to the three-dimensional world. This reference to space takes the form of shapes that imply perspective as we would see it in interior spaces or the landscape. Patterns are painted completely flat, denying the illusion set up by larger forms. In this way, my paintings explore two dichotomies: male vs. female, and illusion vs. flatness. The painting of illusionistic space, associated with a western, masculine tradition, utilizes perspective devices such as overlapping, diminishing size, and linear perspective in order to create an illusion of the three dimensional world on a two dimensional surface. This tradition is entirely different from the decorative arts, which has been associated with women. Quilting, weaving, and needlework use repetition of flat, simple, brightly colored forms to create a pattern. In my work, pattern does not follow the shapes that imply perspective; rather they reinforce and echo the edges of the canvas, reminding one of modernism and its celebration of the materiality of painting- physicality of paint, brushmark, the square or rectangular form of the canvas and flatness of the painted surface.

Other issues that my work deals with are issues of man’s impact on nature; especially overpopulation, pollution and invasions of non-native animal species due to human involvement. I am also working on a body of work that addresses issues of conflict over ethnic identity and place.
 
 

Artists Statement

Mary Jane Duffy

March 2000