Rites of Spring – Leslie Shaw Zadoian

THE INTERCHURCH CENTER
CORRIDOR GALLERY

Artist’s Statement

For me, all artwork begins when I am not working. It begins with my lifelong habit of looking closely at everything and contemplating color, shape, texture, space, and their
relationships as they appear in daily life. I look at art, clouds, passing traffic, people’s faces, even such objects as discarded scraps of metal and wood (the interesting ones I
collect for possible use). In some mysterious way, these thoughts and observations recede, percolate and, in time, bring to the fore a color, texture or other element which
is the genesis of an artwork. Then that first element suggests a second and a third and so goes the making of art. Yes, I know that I make my art through a combination of experience, knowledge and thought, but something else happens at a deeper level, one that is not as logically plotted as just described. Call it magic.

Several of the assemblage paintings in Rites of Spring include parts of wooden fruit crates. Others have unusual combinations of metal or metal and wood attached to the canvas. Shape, line, color, texture and space interact on canvas and extend beyond its borders. Combining materials on a ground of translucent depth (acrylic paint, pastels and other traditional media applied layer upon layer), I find the beauty and formal elegance hidden in unlikely combinations. Equally important are textures, energy and space sensed rather than seen—mystery, spirit, the layered nature of existence.

So, what is embodied in Rites of Spring? Energy, excitement, anticipation, exploration, affirmation, transformation. Newness and eternity. Each piece is a new beginning with
a starting point and no agenda, true exploration. Inspired by nature, art, the world of manufactured and discarded objects, and the inner journey, my assemblage paintings and other works transform disparate elements and integrate them into a new universe. The artist makes the work, and the viewer completes it. Standing in the here and now, artist and viewer can sense the unseen.

Presented by THE INTERCHURCH CENTER
Paula M. Mayo: President & Executive Director

Frank DeGregorie: Curator

THE INTERCHURCH CENTER
475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115
www.interchurch-center.org

The paintings are for sale. To inquire about the art, please call 212. 870.3271