About the paintings ...
When I arrived in Tucson 14 yrs ago I was intrigued with the Southwestern style so I painted my scratched kitchen cabinets doors a bright, intense yellow with a deep blue trim. I thought using word scraps from carpentry work screwed onto the doors would not only be clever but refreshingly original. However the resultant look was a cacophony of color & texture & over time dirt collected in the scraps & the intense yellow became etched with grime impossible to clean. Then the idea of combining a shabby cabinet door with the mindset of a Renaissance, Baroque, Pre-Raphaelite painter sparked my interest. Also doors have a special significance because as a child my closed bedroom door became my sentinel.
Using cabinet doors as “canvases” is not cutting edge but I thought I had a unique idea to recycle them. Ironically perfection regarding subject matter was the goal for the shabby doors but perfection is a slippery slope especially in the construction of realistic subject matter. Getting technical aspects accurate requires great patience & a willingness to repaint areas that appear adequate.
As a part-time art history adjunct I delved into the Renaissance, Baroque, Pre-Raphaelite periods. Despite difficulty executing complex themes, the content of these periods have deep hooks in me. Some consider references to the Bible, classics & religious themes restrictive but these wily artists cleverly embedded hidden symbols of protest against their patrons shrewdly placed amongst the beautiful saints & sinners. Their hidden messages invite the viewer into their private thoughts but the incredible aspect of this embedded iconography is their haughty patrons had no clue they were being mocked. The wit & the resultant humor makes one appreciate the genius of these master artists. In homage to them my intent was to embed "clues" attempting to reveal the complex aspects of content as well as revealing truths regarding myself.
Beautiful women used in my present work are related to my earlier paintings but in a subtle way. I received a painting scholarship to Athens, Greece when I was 19 yrs. old. In Athens I randomly photographed men on the street. Their faces displayed an unattractive harshness perpetuating the “ugly as bad” ancient Greek view. But after talking with them they appeared friendly & open regarding their difficult lives. And as we talked their faces became more attractive. I have incorporated the ancient Greek theory into both sets of work because this concept can be layered with substance & meaning. But nothing is black & white especially when it comes to this topic so inevitably there is a dash of the paradox. And can one judge a book by its cover?
The next stage of the evolution of the beauty/ugly theme is to juxtapose the ancient Greeks estimation of beauty being “the good” & transpose it to the bad. My next theme incorporates the following satirical concepts; a classical reference (Dante’s Inferno), cannibalism & a stunningly beautiful woman…theme: are mothers capable of devouring their children? Who is the bad mother & is a bad mother obviously bad? Questions not easily answered; painting process not easily executed.
--- Sarah A. Masse, July 2014