Senior Art Exhibit 2008 - Caroline Coffee

When asked what inspires me to make these paintings, to be honest, I don't really ever have an answer. All I can say is that I just have a compulsion with making paint the subject of a painting. Ultimately, I would like for my work to be engaging to look at while still matter-of-fact in its rawness. What simultaneously brings me the most joy and frustration with a thing of visual interest is that I cannot ever fully understand or grab onto the beauty that something has; but, I always have to remind myself that to appreciate something fully, I have to relinquish that desire to control and just stand back and allow the feeling of wonder to preserve its whole integrity. Because of this, I decided to make the final painting proportional to the human body, yet taller and more massive. I also chose to have the majority of the painting's activity in the center, where a person's eye level is. These paintings are a pushes and pulls of paint layers -of becoming intimate with, and then distant from the painting's core. In this way, I attempted to encourage this more true appreciation of beauty.