Danica Oudeans Painting & Drawing Series
My painting, drawing, and sculptural artworks explore color, texture, form, and space using both traditional mediums of oil and acrylic painting as well as integrating mixed media materials. My working process is directly linked to life experiences. The links below provide a look into previous bodies of artwork that have informed my current painting series. I welcome comments and interpretations of the work and enjoy discussing my work via email or social media at @oudeansart on Facebook and Instagram.
Intimate Spaces - Sculptural Paintings
Intimate Spaces is a series of sculptural paintings that explore how we are impacted by the spaces, events, and ideas in our surroundings. Each piece has been constructed using an intimate scale with the wooden boxes as a metaphor for our body. Projections are constructed from symbolic materials and holes are cut to reveal and conceal the layers of environmental impact. The mixed media materials are chosen both for their symbolic representations of ideas such as fragility, strength, and healing and their use of an everyday mundane object. This series also explores the relationship between kitsch and fine art through its use of "craft" materials such as googly eyes, pom poms, embroidery floss, and ribbon.
Connect/Disconnect - Mixed Media Drawings
Connect/Disconnect is a series of mixed media drawings that explore changes in self identity as our relationship status changes. The drawings explore the differences between gender expectations in relation to relationship status. Expectations are explored through selection of symbolic materials and formal organization of imagery. Threads and lines are used to denote relationships both tenuous and strong between participants in the intimate relationship as well as the individual's relationship to societal expectations. Circles and signatures represent confirmation of self identity and barcode imagery is abstracted to present pressures of societal conformity. Everyday materials such as felt pads, cotton yarn, q-tips, and thread are another layer of symbolism to represent the domestic sphere in a public dialogue.
Senses - Oil Paintings
The paintings in the Senses series visually explore ways formal abstraction can evoke sensory responses from viewers. The triptych format investigates physical and psychological connections between body and environment. Color is used to create ambiguous figure ground relationships and symbolic representations of body and environment. Layering is used to reveal and conceal the construction of the painted surface.
Plein Air Studies
The Great Lakes of Michigan and Superior have always been an escape for me. I enjoy creating Plein Air paintings meditating on the ever changing light along their shores. I use these paintings as inspirations for larger abstracted works that are based on the local landscape.