Brittany Gilbert
Artist Statement
Through sequential and perceptual landscape painting, my work creates a record of my experience of sustained engagement with perpetually fluctuating environments. It is based on perceptual and direct responses to particular environments.
In an outdoor setting there is so much information and many variables that are beyond my control. What does it mean to engage with how these observations add to my understanding and attune my senses to the nuances of the scene? Standing in the same spot, I paint the same space again and again over hours, weeks, months and even years. Returning to each site multiple times builds an intimacy from which I can personally and intuitively respond to fluctuating conditions.
Finding a format best suited for each site, I embrace that I am not a machine and I do not register changes the same way that a machine would. I paint what first captures my attention, therefore, directing the viewer to my individual impression. Whenever there is a noticeable change in its appearance, I record the time, put the work aside and begin a new panel. I cannot and do not want to capture every detail. I am interested in the shape shifts within my subject, as well as the freshness, decisiveness and immediacy of my response. The result of this process corresponds with the pace at which changes occur. Endurance leads to a rhythmic quality in the physical act of painting. It becomes a flow that is indicative of my immersion in a fluctuating environment. Evidence of this flow is shown not only through levels of resolution within a particular day, but also through increasingly decisive brushstrokes as projects continue.
Series are installed chronologically as a singular piece - often in grid-like formats contrasting the irregularity of nature. In larger series, the spacing of the work is also indicative of the time spent on each painting.
Over time possibilities open up to me as an artist. With immersion a field transcends dirt and grass. The nameable objects disappear and are replaced by shifts of colors and abstract shapes vying for my attention before nestling back into obscurity. Whether it is the color of a tree as the sun rises, the rhythm of sunlight through a forest, a puddle evaporating or the veil of rain over the landscape, sustained engagement through painting allows me to be open and ready to respond to the unexpected in seemingly mundane or cliché subjects. The arrangement and balance of little and big shapes constantly changes, providing new paintings from the same landscape motif.
Painting the same size within a series guarantees that there is minimal disruption to the narrative flow and read when I present these landscapes in their entirety as a story of my encounters with a particular place. I hope the viewer will experience the landscape as I have: as a constantly fluctuating environment full of subtle shifts of value, color, and light, as well as dramatic arrangements of shapes.
As I work, I do not compare the current painting to the previous one. I am fully absorbed in the present. I have faith that the process will result in a genuine record of my experience however subtle or dramatic the visual shifts.
