s a c r a         p r i v a t a

Marie Bukowski, Associate Professor of Art, Graduate Coordinator, Studio Program Coordinator: My work references landscape, biological and chemical compounds, text and numerical systems derived specifically from scientific events and mathematical graphs. By interjecting text and numbers, I want to engage the viewer in an intellectual dialogue, rather than simply guiding them across an aesthetic surface. Metaphors of time and structure act as a visual aesthetic to express a complicated sense of space and exploration. I use these references as a means to search for an order, but not an order with specific systems and constraints. I look for an order that is true to depicting the experience. There is a systematic space in my work, but at the same time, an uncertainty within the space. The use of lines and planes accomplish this uncertainty; this type of framework depletes the very inference of the structure. I want no measurable point related to these forms. Instead, they indicate constant flux. It is my ultimate goal to create a work of art that is not beautiful, but something that remains as a true experience as felt.

Nicholas Bustamante, Assistant Professor of Art: What started as an exploration into abstraction has evolved into complex, non-linear narratives that are constructed from a series of metaphors, symbols, and personal icons. Through the use of various shelter structures, the work explores ideas of protection, confinement, and an investigation into how we construct our personal space. The paintings reinterpret events in my personal life in a way that allows the viewer to create their own story based on the connection and slippage between these systems. As a painter, I strongly believe that personal narratives have the ability to communicate to the viewer on a deeper level, as the work begins to break through everyday generalizations and tap into a greater universal truth. All of the images and abstract forms in the paintings are grounded in research and are used as a tool to construct these narratives. Symbols are inter-twined and woven within the paintings surface, often to be covered up, moved, and later exposed. This physical application of paint then becomes a compulsive means of recording and documenting the passage of time, allowing the viewer to experience the history of the work. The dialogue that is created within the paintings is as important as the finished product. I consider the work to be a contemporary extension of the rich tradition of narrative painting.