PatrICIa gagIC

WWW.PATRICIAKARENGAGIC.COM

“Motivated by the delicate balancing of elements of the past, choices made in the present, and a powerful intention to change the future, each thought and intuition become master to the emergence of form and method in my art-making. Complexity is a keyframe. The infinity of possible iterations of a form is a fascination intellectually and in terms of my method. It drives how I engage with materials to search for what is luminous to the eye and transcendent in meaning to the heart. My Art is intended to point to what is greater than the conventional and logic-based point-of-view.

The under-painting is central to how this orientation shows up in the final works. In search for the luminous and transcendental, the under-painting is an investigative yet carefully orchestrated evolution of intentional layering in which I am immersed in a process of moving with a rich flow of contemplative and clairvoyant thought. In this movement, I press-in on the markmaking with brush and paint, then stand apart from it, then press-in again and so on

“Silent Eighties” Acrylic On Canvas, 30”x40”

until the idea which wants to be noticed shows itself in relationship with my intention for an image. This process is deeply personal. It is intended to bridge to others and invite them to participate in the images I make, such that well-being is magnified by an encounter with something opening them to the intuition of a greater Whole.

My long-time mentor and dear friend, Master Artist, Dragan Dragic (who I was blessed to meet and study with in France since 1999), has deeply influenced me through his conception of the extraordinary depth he reveals in the palette of Matisse. Dragan surrendered himself to these secrets in a lifelong journey of revelation and dedication, bringing me cause to examine and view his work with an appreciation of and engagement with the paradox of complexity coupled with simplicity. The outcome engendered confidence in portraying simplicity as the ultimate expression of complexity. Dragan encouraged me to see the beauty of abstraction lies in the various underlying hypostases combining or being in a dynamic relationship in such a way as to become conscious to the viewer as a living process.

I continue to learn how incredibly liberating it is to affirm and elevate emotion as the intent of a painting or photograph—being fearless in approaching the image as a sovereign manifestation requiring my stand as one “getting to know” life, bringing forth clues for others, and trusting the process. This is the under-painting of the journey I have been so humbly given to fulfill.”

These latest pieces were created in a collaboration (with artist Greg D.) under the profile name Lotus 97.7.