ARTISTS STATEMENT:

"My training as a clinical psychologist with a life-long interest in world religions informs my work. I believe that part of my mission as an artist is not only to create beauty, but to provide a place of sacred stillness as a respite from our exciting, but often too fast-paced lives. The stillness I seek is one that invites meditation and contemplation."

PALIMPSESTS:

The "palimpsest" series continues linearly from my landscapes/interiors and other series. Beginning with a fully realized painting, I add layers of paint to produce an effect akin to the process of memory and forgetting. In particular, I am interested in the way images of our personal and collective memories often push through both layers of time and new experiences into our thoughts. The use of paint over earlier images recapitulates the way we tend to remember, where only some elements of the past arise clearly, while others are obscured by time.

These paintings are reminiscent of ancient palimpsests, documents on parchment written over by later religious figures or historians. In particular my inspiration was a document of Archimedes that explored his ideas with words and drawings, but that had been either misunderstood or determined to be heretical, so were written over by later religious scholars. Despite the 15th century overwriting, it is still possible to see remnants of Archimedes' drawings showing underneath the more recent writings. In layering paint over an earlier painting I re-create the idea of "palimpsest" to explore the idea of time obscuring image in both our personal and collective awareness.

BIO:

Carrera holds a B.A. in psychology & fine art from Rutgers University, and came to San Diego to pursue a Masters and Ph.D. in clinical psychology. She has furthered her art training at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Fleisher Art Memorial, Atlin School for the Arts in British Columbia, and the Atheneum in San Diego. Carrera currently pursues a full-time career in fine art in San Diego and Portland, OR, and teaches privately. She has exhibited in numerous juried and solo shows locally and nationally, and has won a number of awards. Her paintings hang in residential and corporate collections throughout the U.S. and Canada.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Lauren Carrera
carrerastudios@sbcglobal.net
www.carrerastudios.com
619.234.2558