Kat by Saralene Tapley

My subject matter of choice is anything to do with the human experience. My media of choice is currently paint. In the past my works have, also, been preoccupied with other forms of two dimensional mark making inclucing collage. Many of these collage pieces implemented positive mark making in which i painted, drew, drew or attached materials on the surfaces or negative mark making in which I erased and left traces of the marks. Today, I primarily focus on the way colour and expression convey meaning in the face.

Living in various countries and cultures has had a profound effect on my work. Much of my degree work was a collection and retrospection of my Asian experience. I utilised many techniques from Chinese wall and propoganda paintings from the Cultural Revolution. This continued on into my CAP Foundation art works in which I was concerned with abstract symbols/characters taken from Chinese calligraphy and brush painting. I, then, became interested in Irish pub culture, a very important aspect of Irish life. I used strong colour and gesture to convey the liveliness of the Irish living experience. (The mark making and paint work was not unlike that of Jack B. Yeats.) The work I have created upon moving to the United States has focused on the individual, the portrait and how, when combined, they make up a community. I have been looking at many painters of the human figure and face such as Chuck Close, Lucian Freud, and Jenny Saville. Most of my subjects have included family, friends and coworkers.

http://saralenetapley.com/