Cynthia Grow

If a Painter or Poet Loves You, You Can Never Die

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In these gestural abstract works the painting, the marks - the color of blood, of passion, stand next to, yet apart from one another and the separated figures, or “entities” seem to float in space. The space between implies Silence. Isolation. Sadness. Loneliness. The entities seem to drift apart, representing a sort of incipient end – a past love story, perhaps a dream, a fading memory. Something that is slowly slipping and going away.

 

The text, both my own and excerpts from the poems of Catalan poet Salvador Espriu, adds another layer to the mystery of the “story.” Words are purposely scribbled and rubbed slightly away, leaving behind shadows and dirty marks, much like a messy, complicated relationship and fading memory.

 

Strands of words, snippets of poetry remind us that we can never fully know the complete story and suggests the fleeting, fragmentary but enduring nature of Memory. These pieces are deliberately ambiguous, offering subtle suggestion - hinting at death, the passing of time, and exploring themes of loneliness, longing and desire.