1. 2014 Artist Statement
My art most often illustrates my internal condition. Many of my ideas come
from times where I reflect on the person I think I am, and the person I want to
become, and working through past or current emotional experiences. Religion and
spirituality, health, family ties, feminism, and past experiences are symbolically
added to my pieces and often drive various aspects of my concepts. Exploring pain
as a necessary, ironic, and staggeringly beautiful aspect of life is another driving
force in my artwork. Each conceptual work is complex and carefully infused with
layers on layers of meaning. I like to communicate my ideas by using certain
humans, animals, surrealist mutations, flowers/plants, manipulations of liquids, and
gestures or poses that have become very symbolic to me. Other artists, particularly
poets and lyricists, also inspire me.
My focus right now is clay and glass, but that could be changing soon... I'm
probably a mixed media artist at heart, but I'm young and unsettled and exploring
so I don't necessarily want to label myself as strictly anything yet. But lately I enjoy
creating with clay and glass because I find the ability to manipulate these materials
in a variety of ways reminiscent of the variety of human experiences, and these
materials hold symbolic connections to spirituality and psychology (i.e. Christians
believe god made us from clay and some of the first artwork humans ever created
were made in clay; the transparent qualities of glass allude to the human psyche and
one’s ability to hide or reveal one's fragility). One of my goals is to echo the
complexity of nature's creations (which is arguably a divine ruler's creations)
through pursuing complexity in my conceptual thoughts and intense attention to
detail in the physical components.
- Ashley Royse