LANA SHUTTLEWORTH
Artist Statement
Ethnomorphic Landscapes is a series that mirrors the common ground
aspirations for diverse societies by depicting idealized landscapes
transforming cross-cultural bi-products into works of art.
As cultures advance in common, humanity still hungers to return to nature where they once harmonized in flowered appreciation of life. The annual cherry blossom fleeting fancy for modern kind was once a vision of femininity to the Chinese, while the Japanese traditionally made it an observation of the similitude between the nature of the blossoming tree and human life. They symbolize a promise of a rebirth or the grace of a gathering beneath the bows for the various peoples that beheld the beauty embodied within the cherry blossom tree. In Sakura, a large-scale 14' X 4' cherry blossom landscape, I invite the viewer into the picture plane to make their own interpretation of these ephemeral flowers.
As groves give way to gravel, the hand of the artist is depended on to bring forth the feast for the eye. “The Park in blue, for Klimt”, I modeled after Gustav Klimt’s “The Park”, created as an image of a shared space preserved in the visual arts and recreated to be revisited. Rare blue and chartreuse safety cones, from my plastic material arsenal, enhance the whimsy and rich hues of this manicured natural scene.
Across the global commons, once diverse landscapes and the societies they support are synchronizing with the ideology of progress in plastic consumption. Plastics are nature-transformed from ancient life remains buried deep beneath the foot of our cultural landscape. Born into service to progress, recovered water bottles, x-ray film and safety cones bear the evidence of life from existing in the world today. Cut, carved and nailed, the surface of these landscapes are assembled with thousands of slivers of plastic and nailed with thousands of brad nails constructing a series of impressionistic mosaics of color intricately laid to create imagery conducive to a return to nature.
As cultures advance in common, humanity still hungers to return to nature where they once harmonized in flowered appreciation of life. The annual cherry blossom fleeting fancy for modern kind was once a vision of femininity to the Chinese, while the Japanese traditionally made it an observation of the similitude between the nature of the blossoming tree and human life. They symbolize a promise of a rebirth or the grace of a gathering beneath the bows for the various peoples that beheld the beauty embodied within the cherry blossom tree. In Sakura, a large-scale 14' X 4' cherry blossom landscape, I invite the viewer into the picture plane to make their own interpretation of these ephemeral flowers.
As groves give way to gravel, the hand of the artist is depended on to bring forth the feast for the eye. “The Park in blue, for Klimt”, I modeled after Gustav Klimt’s “The Park”, created as an image of a shared space preserved in the visual arts and recreated to be revisited. Rare blue and chartreuse safety cones, from my plastic material arsenal, enhance the whimsy and rich hues of this manicured natural scene.
Across the global commons, once diverse landscapes and the societies they support are synchronizing with the ideology of progress in plastic consumption. Plastics are nature-transformed from ancient life remains buried deep beneath the foot of our cultural landscape. Born into service to progress, recovered water bottles, x-ray film and safety cones bear the evidence of life from existing in the world today. Cut, carved and nailed, the surface of these landscapes are assembled with thousands of slivers of plastic and nailed with thousands of brad nails constructing a series of impressionistic mosaics of color intricately laid to create imagery conducive to a return to nature.
