The Complexities of Unity
Interveil
cargocollective.com/lilykuonen
Exhibition Statement
PLAYNTING, a self-prescribed moniker and philosophy for my studio production, involves the synthesis of painting with additional forms, materials, surfaces, and actions (PLAY + PAINTING). Through my production of PLAYNTINGS, I develop unified and related works that involve an investigation of the intricate history I am creating by re- purposing materials. These works consider a genealogy or lineage within my practice that follows lines of form, material, and content relationships to interact with temporality and fragility (including pressure, balance, interdependence, unity, and reliance).
I explore visual relationships and material interactions to construct layered and at times contradictory or oppositional surfaces. I respond to visual and structural cues around me, and layer these references with symbolic concepts related to interpersonal relationships, observed cultural paradoxes, and personal desires. These works explore intermediacy, the state of being in between, in order to challenge, subvert, or exploit beyond a base structure of meaning. In my studio practice, the work I produce is varied in form, from text, writing, drawing, painting, and construction, but these processes are not punctuated; they are symbiotic mergers joining thoughts and content together to cross categorical structures. I work within a standard language of form, text, and familiar material, but as I equalize the purposes of these materials, a chance for hybridization occurs. It is no longer how one material, surface, or text is on top of the other, but rather how each is related to the other. These works rely on optical interplays of media to force a decision, evoke a sentiment, or alter a perception. This playful integration of materials enables interpretation and promotes interaction.