Human Anatomy in Landscape
Artist Statement for "Erotica" show at The Artisan Gallery
Suzanne Lee chetwood
I have always admired the female figure. The curvilinear shapes and volume under skin is akin to my natural style in markings of line and brush. Human forms, contours, and lines inform my landscape paintings. The figures became a subconscious focal point in my work. The landforms I paint have an intention and breath of their own. However, I keep finding figures in the landscape and have addressed that calling.
At first I wanted to make clear the connection of figure to landscape. I joyously achieved that in my first “mother Earth” painting. Sinking a beautiful woman into the very landscape that I admire, connecting and duplicating the lines of Earth and body, I illustrated the illusion that always seemed to occur in my landscapes without intention. With the sky on fire and the cool earth below the figure illustrates the peaceful loving connection I have with the Earth.
The next series of figures slowly began to break away from a specific environment and had a more atmospheric quality. I give the viewer more intuitive credit and have allowed for the mystery of the lines and forms to unveil themselves. It is the same line that drains snowmelt from the hills, carves out a river, and forms the horizon line that I have painted. These same lines and forms of the land can be found in my paintings where the arm meets the body, the declivity in the middle of the back that follows to the backside, and the “saddle” where the lower back meets the buttock. The body of work is a celebration of human form, landscape, and atmosphere.
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