Maria Blanco - "Blue Reflections" December 2nd, 2022 - January 28th 2023
From the beginning my painting has been a celebration of color. I revel in color. Laying down color gives me intense pleasure. This is undoubtably the influence of Mexico in my life. Mexico, with its multi-colored rebozos, pink and turquoise houses, and brilliantly embroidered blouses. A lifetime of experiencing color made its way into every crevice of my brain and soul.
Then I went into the studio during the secluded months of our long COVID lockdown and I turned to what are almost monochrome paintings. Blue, blue and more blue, on top of blue. And rather than my previous abstractions, these paintings sprouted human figures, women; most probably projections of myself. These quite possibly might be self-portraits.
The pandemic and its imposed isolation set me out on a solitary journey of extended self-reflection. In the blur of the sameness of each day, the internal changes in the self are what mark their passing. Without extra sensory stimuli, it is the diversity of the self that takes center stage in our feelings and thoughts; the intra sensory.
In these paintings, foreground and background are indistinguishable, as the figures dissolve. The slow process of distinguishing the shades of blue and of distinguishing the human forms, is the process of stepping into oneself; a quiet moment of reflection.
Maria Blanco
Blue Reflections
December 2nd, 2022 – January 28th, 2023
