Description
53rd Annual Mark Twain Library Art Show
Artist’s Bio:
Ten years ago I began painting a group of women that morphed into my series of “Unconventional Women.” These women are not beautiful in the conventional sense, and they are not engaged in conventional activity. They’re flawed yet strong, perfect in their imperfections. A story is told through each painting, and that story is reinvented with each person who views it.
I’m self-taught and proud of that, reveling in the distortion of body proportions and perspective in my work. For me, painting feels risky and exciting all the time, and that’s what moves me forward. The goal here is to create narratives from emotion and instinct, hoping that what bubbles up in my mind will flow out through my hand and onto the paper.
Color, pattern, and materials turn into my messages about the the power of women’s voices, and, in the process, I’m discovering my own voice. At some point, it occurred to me that I’ve been painting the community of women I’d like to be surrounded with.
Specifically, “Freedom” addresses women and books and freedom of speech. The writing on the cover of the book in this image is of my own composition, as is the prose penciled in around the periphery of the painting. As libraries and bookstores and writers deal with book banning and censorship, and as a former book editor of 40 years, I wanted to create an image in solidarity. “I Know Some Things” was taken from a black and white New York Times photograph of a performance artist, dressed very differently from what you see here. In general, I play fast and loose with my inspirations, passing them through my own filter. Here, I wanted to depict an older woman because I don’t very often see them in paintings. My series has expanded its scope to include them more and more.
My work has appeared widely in galleries, museums, libraries, and other public institutions, and it hangs in private residences from Vermont to California.
To see more of my art, please visit my website: www.nancymooreart.com, and to watch my paintings move from inception to completion, follow me on Instagram: #nancymooreart.
