Maria O'Malley Artist Statement
L I S A L O D E S K I F I N E A R T S
www.llfa.net 949-425-9458
MARIA O'MALLEY
My work is informed by a traditional Greek culture that embodies beauty in the form of the female figure with a focus on the face and eyes. A synthesis of an inner world of a single being is visible in one’s eyes. In addition, my fascination since childhood with symbolism, nature and dreams is reflected in the interpretation of these imagined figures, spaces and places. Incorporating symbols creates a connection with antiquity with a simultaneous existence in the present. I have translated my dreams, feelings and imagination, using painting and drawing as a visual expression to reveal internal beauty, an emotional life, nature, and both individual and collective experiences. I am seeking to evoke in the viewer, rather than to create a narrative, using symbolic imagery to signify a thought or feeling.
Exploring the relationships within the context of an emotional existence to investigate, infuse and engage in a personal excavation is particularly interesting to me. I am curious to discover what is behind a being, the transformation of the human experience and existence contained in the quietness revealed in one’s eyes. My figures represent an intimate interpretation of the wondrous experience of being, of an inner world and dream like subjects, using symbols to concentrate or intensify meaning, making the work more subjective than objective. My development as an artist is ignited by the personal creative process of uniting sensations of corporeality, dream imagery and symbolism in a visual language, with the ideas, moods, and psychological states expressed through the face and eyes, color, form, and composition. I am able to recreate portions of my ancestral past spiritually by synthesizing ancient and contemporary references and sources.
Through the integration of a painterly built up process, scraping and adding layers of thick and thin paint, drawing and painting techniques, I represent an image or an archetype: a unification of the spirit, a sense of mystery, longing, memory, love, strength, and innocence. Additionally, during the preparation of the wood panels, which require several coats of a pigmented archival red oil paint, an ancient surface, color and process, used for painting. Traditionally, and for me personally, painting is a ritualistic and poetic experience. Working with oil on panel is a sensual, intoxicating, and visceral part of my creative process. These figures and symbolic images are created using oil paint on wood panel and range in size from 37”x 28” to 61”x 37”.
It is my hope that in viewing the work, one will discover mysterious, sacred, and symbolic relief; an interconnectedness, inseparability and union providing a continuous reminder of our relationship to the whole; and an emotional experience of the sacred foundation of all things created.