Marie Finkelstein

Peoplescapes: Social Interactions

July 17 - 31, 2008
Opens Thursday July 17, 6:30-9:30pm

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These works are based on snapshots taken of people in parks, cafes, at street fairs and the seaside, with all the noise, vibrancy and social interactions of people together.

 I love the play that occurs between the two media of oil painting and snapshot photography. Figure paintings in oil are traditionally portraits and studies, or social/political commentary by the "artist". The snapshot is typically used by everyday people to capture fleeting moments in time, recording travel sights or intimate moments among family and friends.

 Here, I have painted snapshots of people - individuals, couples and groups - relating to one another in space and time. The viewer might wonder about the nature of the relationships among the people coupled or grouped together.  Who belongs to whom?  How much do we know ? Might the scene change in the next instant, along with the connections among the figures?  Isn't that just like the connections we all make in life?

From a distance, the figures and settings seem photo-like, but up close, it is clear that they are only impressions of reality as interpreted by me, the painter. Will the patterns of sunlight and shadow, shape and colour, shift in the next moment to highlight different figures, changing our perceptions of the relationships among them?  Isn't this just like the kaleidescope of ever-changing intimacies in modern life?  Aren't we all searching for connections in a sunlit park, for intimacy in a world among strangers?"

-- Marie Finkelstein  June, 2008