Michelle DeMarco "Consider stones as icons and you will come to understand the interconnected nature of our human relationship to the earth; consider longer, and your relationship will not be to the earth, but with the earth. Consider it long enough and you will become the earth. My painting is an expression this relationship, not only to the earth, but to one another and all of life." Michelle DeMarco is one of a new emerging genre of eco-artists who combine ecology, spirituality, activism and ethics within their work. DeMarco, who is an egg tempera artist, merges artmaking with environmentally ethical practices and an integrated lifestyle through her work with landtrusts, wildlife preservation and social service organizations. Egg tempera espouses empathy, connection and belonging between the artist and her materials. It is a deliberate style of painting using finely ground naturally found materials mixed with water and egg yolk. The artists selects specific pigments for their hue and quality: blues of lapis lazuli and azurite from Chile; greens of malachite and earth from Verona, Italy; yellow ochres from France; reds siennas from Italy and cinnabars from China; brown raw umbers from Cyprus; purple vesuvianite from South Africa and luminous white oyster shells from Japan. The paintings are poetic and pragmatic, insistent yet gentle. While vested with urgency, they are also mindful of the continuum of rhythms that have their own pace. Her luminous images of ordinary beauty take on meanings of familiarity bringing the viewer directly to a prosaic place of origin. In these bare bones conceptual works exists a totality and commonality of place, blending interconnectedness and beauty, offering the realization that our awareness to an object (or person) reveals its beauty. Click on image for larger view
A Geography of Hope |  |
