Doris Purchase
Artist Statement: Since 2012 I have spoken of my work as a look into what is behind the materials we artists use and the artist supplies that we take for granted.
My art comes in a few forms. I have personally unmade myself as a painter (a second career artist as conceptual artist – my first career as an artist, a realist painter). While I no longer use paints as a final layer with the intention to break from Western ideals of representation my intention is to present a new understanding of the same materials and present their value as symbolic of people and born of the earth. I create an artwork by simply presenting the materials such as the wire, frame and canvas, such that, I do not want them to be used as they are traditionally thought of (supporting pieces for the art) but rather I use them to remind us that these components are the things we tend to ignore - they are not part of the “making” because they are out of sight, not important or subordinate. I present them as something that needs to be seriously considered and I often unmake them, break them and pull them apart so that we notice them. I primarily use found objects - I find old discarded frames, stretchers and wires thrown away, at thrift stores or intended to be thrown away and use these in my pieces.
My art comes in a few forms. I have personally unmade myself as a painter (a second career artist as conceptual artist – my first career as an artist, a realist painter). While I no longer use paints as a final layer with the intention to break from Western ideals of representation my intention is to present a new understanding of the same materials and present their value as symbolic of people and born of the earth. I create an artwork by simply presenting the materials such as the wire, frame and canvas, such that, I do not want them to be used as they are traditionally thought of (supporting pieces for the art) but rather I use them to remind us that these components are the things we tend to ignore - they are not part of the “making” because they are out of sight, not important or subordinate. I present them as something that needs to be seriously considered and I often unmake them, break them and pull them apart so that we notice them. I primarily use found objects - I find old discarded frames, stretchers and wires thrown away, at thrift stores or intended to be thrown away and use these in my pieces.
