laneydesigns

          Growing up, my experiences were shaped by a dialectical tension between location and fate, a fragmented sense of place resulting from my proximity to a filling station:  overgrown lawns and asphalt, leaky ceilings and fuel pumps, unreliable cars and tow-trucks, notes-to-self and changeable sign letters – all of which appear cluttered or strewn throughout these works to emphasize the alienating effects of industry on global and social need. Through this sort of conceptual indexing I became aware of how rusted bath-tubs and fluffy pink poorly installed insulation within my home gave rise to the magnificence of my own human form and internal organs; while the schema of "milk", "bread", and "beer", near explosions and jerry cans seemed to invalidate my persona through the dissolution of space – through paved asphalt and dumpsters.
 

In these works, I honor this conflict by performing the familiar visual routines of my past on awkward locations: industrial hideouts, settings of misfortune, endless corn fields.  As personal flow-charts, they serve to reveal the hidden potential within my own existence, by way of constant inspection and categorization of my environment and daily rituals.  The surfaces of my paintings encompass this visual streaming of color, texture, and climate but often appear fragmented to emphasize the flux between product and self; stains of color reminiscent of commercial materials and substances are layered over the self-assigned disfigurement of my own form – idealized by shaky contour to stress the fleeting irrational fatigue posed by character flaws, useless wardrobes, and heavy hair.  Along the fluid backdrop of remembered rooms, these floating dismembered self-portraits portray the universal nervousness of contemporary life, through the eyes of a floating woman, raised and nurtured by the fumes of tar and diesel. 

          Nevertheless, each piece examines the physical synchronization between body and shelter, the natural deterioration shared between self and space through time. Far removed from the breaking down of bones and drywall, the walls of my surroundings, like my own female form – remain forever stained and kept alive only by water and dreams.  Layered by rain and sealed by scattered memories, each stain surfaces like a hunted mole or vein: sites, and streams, that swell with age and wisdom, and are every bit a part of my own skin.  Self-explorative in nature, these conceptual maps develop as placeholders for personal narratives that channel my dismembered existence into a form of organic life.  Re-created for the viewer on paper with translucent washes and hues, these intimate paintings, at once appear as tangible creations meant for consumption like clothing or snack-food – yet hang in uniform like cherished but forgotten plaques. 

          Beyond the topography and flow of where we sleep, or eat, or buy gas -- these pieces offer an honest glimpse at how the external connects back to the internal; the point where our surroundings actually affect our internal experience.  The soothing nature of each work, handcrafted individually from memories and dreams, attaches a place to the haunting splendor that lurks beneath our own surface.  And, like a satellite map tarnished by silver roof-tops, each surface has an imperfection that is built to last.