Artist statement
To satiate my sweet tooth, I make art. There resides a driving force inside me that yearns for something that is inexplicable. Something intangible. As the French would say, the “je ne sais quoi” (I don’t know what). When I create art, this phantasmagoric force becomes less maddening. I believe that my art serves as a vehicle to express the “je ne sais quoi.” Qualifying my art as a form of meditation and inner expression, I create and indulge in my sweet tooth.
My painting engulfs me as I enter into the realm of beautitude. While I am painting, it is like I am there, in the aesthetic moment. My paintings are, in sense, a self-portrait of experience, but in landscape-form. They reflect my personal ecstasy. In my painting, not only am I depicting a sense of felicity, but I am also tangibly capturing an ever-fleeting moment of my life and the nature that surrounds us. Each landscape has its own identity relative to time and space.
Satiating my inner “hunger” has been a continuing exploration in my life. Beginning with painting my cherished travels and memories and now painting quotidian life, I am beginning to understand the concept of the “je ne sais quoi.” Art sets me free. In the lighthearted and blissful moments, my intimate memories consume me. The world of worries and taxing thoughts dissipate as I savor my sweeth tooth.
- Niki Farrell -
