Artist Statement

My most recent body of work focuses on short one-to-two sentence anecdotes represented through text, and furthers what my previous body of work began to mean to me. In my previous body of work, I depicted items that were important to me as I was growing up through the use of house paint in order to create a nostalgic feeling. The imagery I choose to use in my new work tends to relate to childhood memories, while the anecdotes I use may remind one of their teenage years – this juxtaposition brings about a quite adult recognition of experience. I use both figurative imagery and imagery that is not quite abstract, but is also not figurative, in order to highlight what my text is saying. I have also begun to use single words as the focal points of my work, and their presentation also speaks to the many types of feelings those words can invoke.

Ever since I was a child, I have been interested in relationships, whether they are familial, social, or romantic. When I was young, ideals of romantic relationships, both good and bad, began to form after the divorce of my parents. As a teenager, even more experiences led to my making sense of familial and romantic “love”, how my social interactions were affecting me, and how different levels of honesty affect all three types of relationships.

Through these interests I began to think about words and what kind of impact they can have on someone. I would look up words that people would call me and rationalize to myself why that word was incorrect and then identify myself by the correct word. This led to me thinking about the many different ways that one word can be used, as well as how to think about a word literally. I began to journal and write down my feelings, eventually compressing each feeling into a simple anecdote. Pairing this subjective language with anecdotal imagery further illustrates meaning and drives the impact it has on the viewer.

– Marjolyn Varano