This content was published: January 1, 2006. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
Jeannine Edelblut – The Doors of Perception
Rock Creek Helzer Gallery
January 2006
Painting as philosophy, is an attempt to make visible the invisible. Propelled by a philosophical nature, a strong tendency to question the nature of reality, truth and beauty, art becomes a means to pierce the veil. What are the underlying forces? Is there some greater design? Is it possible to experience Being in a transpersonal way?
Doors of perception open when dichotomies are transcended: order and chaos, male and female, rational and irrational, man and nature, science and art. The vision is to unify duality, to bring together what is regarded as mutually exclusive. The method is balance and relationship. The effect is diversity within unity, potentially beautiful.
Painting contains its own dichotomies: dark and light, warm and cool, thick and thin, flat and dimensional, straight and curved, bright and muted, freedom and control. These paintings are meant to bring together such dichotomies, hopefully generating an esthetic experience with a sense of Being.
These new paintings represent my original contemporary work. This body of work signifies the coalescence of 25 years of painting, in search of a clear artistic vision. On this artistic journey I’ve explored a variety of influences, techniques and imagery. My early development as an artist was mainly influenced by the New York School of non-objective painting. My graduate work led me to develop traditional illusionistic techniques, although my imagery was non-traditional. Later, time spent in France generated a great appreciation for Post-Impressionism, the paint surface, brushwork and color usage. This Francophile fascination has been the impetus for a sideline, a body of French-influenced paintings, that I alternately view as either indulgence or homage. Yet, all of these influences synthesized in my new primary work, revealing the desired clarity of focus. The interesting twist is how I’ve spiraled back around to where I began. The imagery of these new paintings resembles the imagery of my earliest non-objective paintings from 25 years ago. It’s exciting to rediscover a youthfully inspired artistic vision that I can express now, with more richness and strength, as an experienced, mature painter.
