Barbara Eskin
Artist Statement:
My work is an expression of personal and collective experiences, distilled into abstraction. It is process oriented, to the point that I may be well into a series before it becomes clear what is driving me. That moment of clarity is a gift: it feels as if art is informing life. It often provides me with a clear vision of where to go next, and invites me to experiment. The installation “Breaking Out” originated in such a vision—but before I “saw” it I had created a large number of net paintings, which led up to it.
My most recent series focuses on questions of universal concern:
What do the Net Works or constructs we live do to us? Do they serve us well, sustain us, or do they hem us in? If they do constrain us, can we break out? And what remains if the social contract is broken or frayed?
Other questions may come to mind as you immerse yourself in “Net Works” or “The Net Reconfigured”. For these last two series, I made prints, cut-outs and collages of pieces of netting and net paintings, playing with their suggestive symbolism, further and further pushing the subject into the realm of ultimate ambivalence. In the course of this project, my work became more conceptual, a development which I find intriguing and would like to pursue.
As always, questions may be raised, but answers remain elusive; what counts is the process of probing, which is there for all to see.
My work is an expression of personal and collective experiences, distilled into abstraction. It is process oriented, to the point that I may be well into a series before it becomes clear what is driving me. That moment of clarity is a gift: it feels as if art is informing life. It often provides me with a clear vision of where to go next, and invites me to experiment. The installation “Breaking Out” originated in such a vision—but before I “saw” it I had created a large number of net paintings, which led up to it.
My most recent series focuses on questions of universal concern:
What do the Net Works or constructs we live do to us? Do they serve us well, sustain us, or do they hem us in? If they do constrain us, can we break out? And what remains if the social contract is broken or frayed?
Other questions may come to mind as you immerse yourself in “Net Works” or “The Net Reconfigured”. For these last two series, I made prints, cut-outs and collages of pieces of netting and net paintings, playing with their suggestive symbolism, further and further pushing the subject into the realm of ultimate ambivalence. In the course of this project, my work became more conceptual, a development which I find intriguing and would like to pursue.
As always, questions may be raised, but answers remain elusive; what counts is the process of probing, which is there for all to see.
Artist Bio:
Barbara Eskin was born in Germany and lives and works in the USA and in France. She has studied at the University of Mainz, (Germany), Middlebury College, (USA), Woodstock School of Arts (NY, USA), Ecole d'Art et de Dessin de Fontainebleau (France), Kunsthochschule Bremen (Germany), and with internationally acclaimed painter Frans Schuursma (Paris, France).
Barbara Eskin was born in Germany and lives and works in the USA and in France. She has studied at the University of Mainz, (Germany), Middlebury College, (USA), Woodstock School of Arts (NY, USA), Ecole d'Art et de Dessin de Fontainebleau (France), Kunsthochschule Bremen (Germany), and with internationally acclaimed painter Frans Schuursma (Paris, France).
