ANNE SARGENT
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The White Series
An experimental addition of a plexiglass topsheet to an existing image proved to be a fortuitous moment two years ago. It was the impetus for the body of work that became The White Series for Taking Shape Connected Moments, my 2023 solo show.
This addition of a topsheet provided the means to create the images I had been seeking. Images that could be manipulated through layering, obsuring, revealing. Images that finally brought together so much of what I had ben searching for over the years. As with many turning points, they can happen accidentally
I have come to think of these pieces very much as portraits. They are strangely intimate while at the same time set apart, not quite in the same space as us. Yet gathered around, you feel their presence.
Faces reused, appearing across multiple works, shifting male to female, young to old or simply reappearing in a new context. Taken from drawings done without models, they are further distanced from the specific by years and multiple reproductions. Narrative clues or unnecessary decorative elements are eliminated. I have tried to reveal and communicate with minimal information, a part of the character that is more permanent and essential and not informed by details that may be transient.
In many pieces the undefined space around the figure is expanded by adding a second panel creating a diptych. This new panel, although also devoid of horizon or ground lines, becomes an important element helping to define and empower the figure.
Individuals available but not explained, alone but not lonley
The White Series
Collage
Transfer on Lead
Faces
