Three
Ashley Macias
Painting
“My art is always about exploring deeper consciousness, the human psyche and human nature. I always try to portray this. I want to create the human element through plants, through, well, everything that exists, but also create this very deep construct of what goes beyond the human mind. What’s underneath; what really defines us as living things and how beneath it all, we are all part of that same origin, that same beauty.” (Macias, Java Magazine)
In this work, using the natural world (wood) as backdrop, Macias creates a spiritual conflict of the human figures that plays out in this psychedelic scene. Reminiscent of the surrealist work of Francis Bacon, the position of the figures in this fluid natural world is defined through strict geometric shapes - two black triangles, the so-called “space-frames”. In painting and drawing, these are a structural device used to construct an environment of the figures that doesn´t clarify spatial relations and in this way maintains the ambiguity of space. Such limitation of pictorial space draws a strict boundary between the “inside” and “outside”, the latter here the background of the world/nature (wood) and the former a moment, strictly defined by space, where the psychological conflict between the three figures plays out. The figures literally seem to be emerging - the leg of the figure on the right looks like it is stepping out of water - out of the abstract background space into one of action.
The painting is full of eyes, a common feature in Macias´s work - “I always start with the eye… the window to the soul… I’ll float three eyes on the page, a triangle. They act as the focal point or guide” (Macias, interview with Phoenix Magazine). In fact, if (as per her words), the three most prominent eyes on this work - on the hips of the figures, one on each - are connected into a triangle, they form another such “space-frame” that aligns with one of the perspectives inscribed in the image - *there is two lines of perspective in this work: one of the vanishing points is located along the left side of the imaginary triangle between the three figures, and the other follows the direction of the black triangle on the bottom. In this way, the process of vision is here very much emphasized, not only because of the prominence of the symbolism of the eyes, but also because the work semantically brings to mind this tradition of perspective that chiefly concerned itself with pictorial vision, ie. “how” we see into a painting and “how” our minds construct its space. In this case, the vision goes beyond mere illusionistic spatial construction - as the perspective of a rational space is here clearly not the chief concern, but rather, a deeper vision into what goes inside the external facade of (human) life.
Macias´s preoccupation with the inner life of human consciousness can be further seen in her treatment of the human figures. She intensely draws lines and pulses of vibrations on the human bodies that (externally) reflect the inner life of the human psyche.
In this work, using the natural world (wood) as backdrop, Macias creates a spiritual conflict of the human figures that plays out in this psychedelic scene. Reminiscent of the surrealist work of Francis Bacon, the position of the figures in this fluid natural world is defined through strict geometric shapes - two black triangles, the so-called “space-frames”. In painting and drawing, these are a structural device used to construct an environment of the figures that doesn´t clarify spatial relations and in this way maintains the ambiguity of space. Such limitation of pictorial space draws a strict boundary between the “inside” and “outside”, the latter here the background of the world/nature (wood) and the former a moment, strictly defined by space, where the psychological conflict between the three figures plays out. The figures literally seem to be emerging - the leg of the figure on the right looks like it is stepping out of water - out of the abstract background space into one of action.
The painting is full of eyes, a common feature in Macias´s work - “I always start with the eye… the window to the soul… I’ll float three eyes on the page, a triangle. They act as the focal point or guide” (Macias, interview with Phoenix Magazine). In fact, if (as per her words), the three most prominent eyes on this work - on the hips of the figures, one on each - are connected into a triangle, they form another such “space-frame” that aligns with one of the perspectives inscribed in the image - *there is two lines of perspective in this work: one of the vanishing points is located along the left side of the imaginary triangle between the three figures, and the other follows the direction of the black triangle on the bottom. In this way, the process of vision is here very much emphasized, not only because of the prominence of the symbolism of the eyes, but also because the work semantically brings to mind this tradition of perspective that chiefly concerned itself with pictorial vision, ie. “how” we see into a painting and “how” our minds construct its space. In this case, the vision goes beyond mere illusionistic spatial construction - as the perspective of a rational space is here clearly not the chief concern, but rather, a deeper vision into what goes inside the external facade of (human) life.
Macias´s preoccupation with the inner life of human consciousness can be further seen in her treatment of the human figures. She intensely draws lines and pulses of vibrations on the human bodies that (externally) reflect the inner life of the human psyche.
her preoccupation with the form of the human body, pays homage to the sculptural tradition going back to Michelangelo and in his treatment of the musculature of the human form.
Height: 23 1/4”
Width: 23 1/4”
Depth: 1.5
inches
Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix, AZ
Golden acrylic and paint on polished wood
http://javamagaz.com/?p=4027
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