TARPAULIN SKY V4n2

Cynthia Ona Innis

One Two, 2006
Mixed media on stretched satin, 18” x 22”

Statement

The work I am involved with now incorporates the combination of acrylic paint, oil, ink, paper and fabric on stretched satin, canvas and wood. The satin is treated, making the fabric matte and taut, giving it a skin/paper like surface. The delicate fabric is rendered sturdy through this process but still retains a fragile, transparent film quality. This new work owes its beginnings to a winter spent at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire. The work is influenced by the growth and decay in the life processes of plant and animal forms. Combinations of drawn and painted pod and cell-like patterns slip, drip and march under and over layers of paper, ink, satin fabric and acrylic paint. These juicy biomorphic shapes suggest a physical, bodily reference as drawn arteries and vein-like pathways weave in and out of view, connecting and disconnecting from their clumpy and meaty source. The images, rendered and concealed in fleshy pinks, raw reds and earthy browns, also resemble stylized biology sketches. Living in the snow and witnessing the thaw of the landscape aided my exploration of forms under transformation. The work also draws from personal experiences, mingled with these observations of seasonal stages in nature.

 

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Relay, 2006
Mixed media on stretched satin, 28” x 32”

 

 

 

 

 

Starts, 2006
Mixed media on stretched satin, 28” x 32”

 

 

 

 

 

Arc, 2006
Mixed media on wood panel, 12”x 16”

 

 

 

 

 

Brink, 2005
Mixed media on wood panel, 12” x 12”

 

 

 

 

 

Little Freezer #2, 2006
Mixed media on wood panel, 7.5” x 9”

 

 

 

 

 

Jumper, 2006
Oil on canvas, 8” x 10”

 

 

 

 

 

Freezer, 2006
Oil on canvas, 40” x 60”

 

 

 

 

 

Little freezer #3, 2006
Mixed media on wood panel, 7.5” x 10”

 

 

 

 

 

Spitting Velvet, 2005
Mixed media on wood panel, 12” x 12”

 

 

 

 

 

Little Freezer, 2006
Mixed media on wood panel 9” x 7.5”

 

 

 

 

 


Cynthia Ona Innis received a BA from UC Berkeley and an MFA from Rutgers University in New Jersey. Her paintings can be seen in the permanent collections of the San Jose Museum of Art, the Berkeley Art Museum, the Microsoft Collection, the Capital Group Collection, and the Imagery Estate Winery Collection. Among awards she has received are the 2005 James D. Phelan Award for Printmaking, a 2005 MacDowell Colony Fellowship, a 2003 Kala Fellowship, and a 1991 James D. Phelan Award in Painting. Innis exhibits nationally and is currently teaching painting at UC Berkeley.