Beneath the Surface

Art@Work

The Durham Art Guild in partnership with the Research Triangle Foundation presents “Beneath the Surface” featuring work by DAG members Bryan “BC” Crabtree, Steevie Jane Parks and Robyn Scott. Scott’s work is representative of her experience living with an invisible disability and missed connections in an able-ist world, creating light and hidden images in place of shadows. Parks uses her work as an avenue to build emotionally informed artscapes that explore the emotional and spiritual challenges that connect all humans. BC creates pieces that are informed by art history as well as technology, to record memories and tell stories that do not fit within traditional styles of art. Aesthetically, these artists take a differing approach to their modern, abstract pieces but all invite the viewer to inquire, explore and ponder the thoughts, feelings and experiences that lie beneath the surface.

Bryan “BC” Crabtree

For me the act of creating art is compulsory. It is my way of processing the world around me. I rarely work from observation and usually work from memory, studying the moments that don’t fit easily into still life, portraits or landscapes. I internalize the forms and colors and put them to canvas when I return to my studio as if retelling a story. Often elements are simplified to symbols or icons, abstracted and sometimes obscured or incomplete, like a memory. As an artist I am also invested in the relationship between different visual languages and how they shape our perception of the world. My use of color, line, form, subject and style are all informed by art history but also my fascination with technologies and materials and how they have defined modes of creation and the glitches or residues that give those materials their defining visual characteristics. I usually work with acrylics because of their versatility, but often experiment with other mediums both physical and digital.

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Robyn Scott

My work focuses on the lived experience of having invisible illness and how that informs interactions between me and my community. Invisible illness and disability lead to a number of misunderstandings and missed connections in an environment that is built for healthy people. Navigating this world is an adventure, sometimes traveling through a maze, an upside down world, or one with no gravity at all. My work contains hidden images, reflections, and light where shadows should be. The negative and positive spaces become one and the same throughout the process of creating these pieces to play on the lack of depth of field in real life. The viewer may see multiple elements of the drawings eventually noticing that what was hidden is now in plain sight.

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Steevie Jane Parks

I find the process of creating an abstract painting to be both challenging and exhilarating. I often listen to novels or music while I’m painting and I am always fascinated to discover how the content of what I am listening to unconsciously influences the content and style of my work. I enjoy playing with light, color and texture, and the way that different paint mediums can be manipulated to create almost any mood one can think of. I find that by creating abstract paintings, I am able to symbolically come to terms with a variety of emotional and spiritual challenges that are common to all people.

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