PAINTINGS

The paintings of Beanie Kaman are a curious mixture of landscape, abstraction and figuration. Working from an internal mirror, she plays with forms and symbols to create visual suggestions in an interior space, an imaginary space that allows for free interpretation. Iconic images of a house, a cup, a curling line, the twining vine are often repeated, appealing to a sense of familiarity and comfort, yet left within an unidentified space that suggests atmospheres, earth or skies. Markings, x’s and spheres can float within the space or lay flat to cut and define, playing with the boundaries between drawing and painting. Acrylic paint with dried pigments soften the surface, while pencils and pastels push the color and shape dimension.

Early influences of Georgia O’Keefe and Helen Frankenthaler can still be seen by the modeling of some images, while there is free flowing paint between the layers. However, by using the iconic images as metaphors, Kaman addresses what she sees as a constant in the collective unconscious. She speaks to the ambiguities within life by using universal markings to define time and space. Bringing nature to the forefront, Kaman places the unknown within the known and leads the imagination forward, encouraging the viewer to explore their own boundaries of the personal within the universal.