Detail of Seasonal Notations
NANCY STORROW
Artist Statement
The focus of my artwork has always been about the odd, often overlooked, transient aspects of the environment. My current black and white graphite drawings of imaginary plants are ragged, unfinished and partially erased. They recreate nature as source and surprise. Somewhere between representation and abstraction, the drawings are a link to my inner landscape. They continue my fascination with crumpled leaves, vines and the brushy understory.
I have been recording nature for years and documenting it. As I look back, I can trace my art, following vestiges of ideas and intentions in the past work and then reformatting it. I see that my incised woodblocks, with literal chunks cut in the wood, from over thirty years ago, are in stark contrast to my small finger drawings and paintings, yet both address the land.
My drawing installations are a diaristic rendering of days surrounded by the natural world. Simple elemental forms ground the drawings and expand their reference to the earth. In certain linear drawings, colors develop patterns and vibration, while others combine stroking, rubbing the surface with pastel pigment and erasing it. These drawings bring together the mood of the day, with contour lines that interrupt the surface. Variations in gesture, tone, and texture are underscored by placing multiple drawings together. Installations invite openness, play and possibility.
“There is an essence, a hum of the world where the leaves quiver and flicker and murmur that I want to reflect in my artwork.” NS
Past Solo Exhibitions:
Seasonal Notations, 2023
Fragile, 2020
Edgeland, 2017
Understory, 2013
Bare Ground, 2011
Findings, 2010
Seen/Not Seen, 2008
Life List, 2005 Translucence, 1999
Augmented Drawings, 1996
Past Group Exhibitions: Reviewed and Sold: Whats Next?, 2022 23°47', 2°27', 2°51', 2021 SYMPOIESIS, 2020 Eleven x Seventeen, 2019
Women On The Line, 2017
Who Cares?, 2017
Wish you were here, 2015
A.I.R. ReFreshed, 2015
If These Walls... II, 2015
If These Walls..., 2014
Currents, 1998
8 at A.I.R., 1995
Works On Paper, 1995