Artist: Virginia Derryberry
On Exhibit: March 4, 2022 – March 31, 2022
Location: Blowers Gallery in Ramsey Library
Artist’s statement: Large scale figure narrative paintings in the Private Domain series blend elements from mythology and alchemy, the forerunner of modern science. The intent is to suggest multiple interpretations rather than a straightforward illustration of a specific narrative, a fitting choice in that alchemy by its very nature is about the process of transformation. At first glance, it seems that a real space is being defined, but in fact, the images are constructed from multiple viewpoints and lighting systems. Passages of volumetric rendering set next to more abstract, painterly areas, result in the creation of a virtual, shifting world where nothing is quite what it seems.
Over the past few years, these paintings have become more complex and have begun to incorporate multiple canvases as well as fabric, embroidery and found objects as a way to expand the idea of traditional narrative. Suggesting Renaissance altarpiece panels, these images imply a conversation between factual and illusionistic and pull the viewer in to ask questions about what is being revealed and what is being concealed.
