Inés Leontiev-Hogan
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work tends to be intuitive and to
reflect what is going on in my life at the time. The female form often ends up
featured in much of my work for the simple reason that it is both awe-inspiring
and incredibly beautiful to me.
This year has been about experimenting with different techniques
and mediums as well as about healing the spirit. I am currently working on a series of collagraphs, as well as a series of
portraits of family and friends. My focus has been centered on various printmaking
methods, to include woodcut, monotype, relief, etching, drypoint, collagraph, and
Safety-Kut. I often incorporate printmaking as well as oil, acrylic, and
tempera paints onto wood panels to create mixed media and collage work.
I prefer working with mediums and materials that lend
themselves to the element of surprise as it forces me to surrender all controls
and enjoy the process of discovery. I often incorporate found objects or
recycled materials in my work as I enjoy the surprises that surface as a
result. As I add layer upon layer of
paint, paper, prints, and found objects onto a wood panel I get rewarded with a
variety of options that I can then work further into a cohesive whole.
Everything in life affects what I
create, whether it is my multiculturalism, my mood, friends, family, garden, travels,
books I read, artists I study, music I listen to or movies I watch. I tend to
do better when I work on several pieces simultaneously because it feeds my very
short attention span and keeps my creative juices flowing.
I do not tend to think about what
the viewer will see in what I create because the process is intuitive and very
personal to me. What I do hope is that the final images enable the viewer to
reflect and contemplate on the value and beauty of art in a unique way.
