Lynn Mackenzie

Artist on VibrantCast

My paintings are dialogues with negligible things and nonevents infused with art historical quotes. They explore the potential of the inconsequential, but regardless of the imagery the theme is a tension between identity and normative culture. I rescue the insignificant and the ordinary then ask myself What is worth re-seeing? If this would be relocated or coupled differently, would it gain more significance or become extraordinary? I begin with bits of my photographs inspiring a title. While an initial title gives direction to the process, layers of meaning will emerge as forms take shape. Given time, the subject will direct its own intention, speak its own meaning. I enjoy the challenge of an empty space and the capacity of words to direct interpretation. I compose with acrylics attempting a tension between the suggestion of space beyond the canvas while foregrounding visible brushwork and the two-dimensional reality of the surface. Colors are bold and the atmosphere airless. My artistic strategies are filtered through decades of teaching art history to college students; they confirmed that there are myriad ways to see the same moment.