Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Pamella Allen Contemporary Art Studio: IN MY STUDIO

Pamella Allen Contemporary Art Studio: IN MY STUDIO: Greetings!! It has been way too long since my last blog post back in January that was an intro to "In Plain Sight" the artist interviews. To...

IN MY STUDIO

Greetings!! It has been way too long since my last blog post back in January that was an intro to
"In Plain Sight" the artist interviews. To read all of the blogs re-titled Living Arts, go to http://fort-greene.thelocal.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/living-arts-kathleen-hayek/#more-55984

With that journalistic desire fulfilled...Now it is all about ME !! I figured now it is time to invite y'all into my studio to share the goings-on in my little world so here we go. I will try not scare the bejesus out of you by turning this into some kind of deranged therapy session, I promise. 


To call someone prolific is a polite and intellectual way of saying that they are obsessed.... I'm good with that.


A Shadow of My Former Self is a series of self studies that I made a few months ago. Over the past twenty years I have been periodically making self portraits, this is something that most artists do. I think most everybody does this, after all family vacation photos, profile pictures and the like are all a form of the self portrait. We all feel the need to see ourselves objectively and we artists, and me specifically are just more "prolific" about it than most. This series of self portraits came after a succession devastating losses, talk about getting ones proverbial ass kicked, as a result, I could no longer see myself and I needed to take a good look at how such devastating change manifested itself on me. I was amazed to find that the most revealing truths resided in the shadows cast by my flesh when touched by the light of the evening sun.





Here is an Oil Sketch from A Shadow of My Former Self.
You can see the entire body of works on my website















More about the self...I love nature , it brings me to an inexplicable peace.
I was commissioned to do a series of photos on the flora and fauna in Brooklyn and as I was shooting plant life I kept seeing shadows and faces within the lines of leaves and in reflections of flower pedals and trees. Following my "prolific" nature, I was brought to "Self Studies and the Natural Mystic"














I realized that these profiles that keep floating around  are some kind of archetypal version of me viewing the world, or if you wanna get really deep into the creative psychobabble, they are manifestations of us mirrored in the mystic of nature. Well that's how I see it anyway, so here is some more.



On a visit to my dear friend and fellow artist G's magical home she asked me to shoot this piece of driftwood that she somehow managed to get back to her 
place from the bay near her home.

I say some how because this old tree is about 7 feet long, yea we artists are a crazy Lott! 

But oh how worth it for her efforts, 
this piece of driftwood carries all of 
the magic in its death that it carried in its life..truly a metaphor for us all..



 





What remains after the sap has left the tree is just as beautiful as it was when its sap flowed freely and its roots clung to the earths nutrient soil.


There is beauty and wisdom in life.
There is beauty and wisdom in death. 







Needing Nature.. I go 'A Cayakin' with G to catch some air to breath...





After a day on the water... I hit the studio in G's creative paradise to adorn Queen Alessandra with the elements of nature in her mystic kingdom.




 Behold the Queen~ Queen Alessandra in her court In the Kingdom of G!

A final though for this day ~ My many silent chyme's whispering ...
Till next time...Peace Love & Light.
P