Shatterscapes

January 2022 Art Show, Artist Statement

Dear Reader,

Through the month of January 2022, my paintings will be on display at Northwest Community Bank in Simsbury, Connecticut (741 Hopmeadow St, Simsbury, CT 06070). Swing by to see my work in person. Below is a sneak peek, along with the artist statement explaining the concept behind this project. Details will follow on options for purchasing prints of the paintings from my website.

~S. C. Durbois

LOTS of free reading below. Merry Christmas!

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~Shatterscapes~
Artist Statement

Before I traveled much, I imagined what it would be like to walk down the streets of foreign cities. I associated exploration and adventure with the freedom of birds. In my mind’s eye, I saw these metropolises as they would: in a blur, from many different angles and perspectives. Over the next few years, I had the opportunity to visit Chicago, England, and Italy, and after leaving, these places come back to me in fragments. All the angles and aspects from my memories blended so that I did not recall one setting, but many scenes compressed and collaged into each other. Especially in the ancient cities of Europe, there are so many impressions from walking down even one street that I did not remember the face of a building, but the entire sensory experience of the space:

… the dawn was this shade over these stone walls…

… coolness changed to brilliant warmth once I passed this sharp angle in the street…

… shadows cast beneath those lamps had this quiet aspect to them…

Cubism presents multiple points of view on a scene by creating a fractured surface in a two-dimensional frame. What better way to depict the sensation of falling into a place, flying past enormous and ancient buildings, which over time have grown out of and sculpted into each other, than cubism?

I hope to give the viewer, you, that impression I had at the very beginning, of what it might be like to fly through the city as a bird, experiencing all the buildings, windows, turrets, lamps, and cobblestones, at the same moment. These shatterscapes depict that movement and stillness, the fear of losing yourself, and the excitement at findings something new when you enter for the first time a city that has been home to hundreds of generations before you were even born.

“Shattersapes”
January 2022 at Northwest Community Bank, in Simsbury Connecticut (741 Hopmeadow St, Simsbury, CT 06070)

Follow S. C. Durbois on Instagram!

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