Elaine Pratt
I create rich, layered, dreamlike experiences, drenched in color and mood. My large trove of images provides material to use as paint brushes. These are woven in complicated layered aggregates, each layer affecting others, until the details of most images blend into the whole. I encourage the wild pixels and visual artifacts that result to be part of the art, like Impressionists proudly let their brush strokes show. This process emerged from years of experience in award-winning graphic design and abstract expression. I gravitate toward the dramatic interplay of light on; cloud formations, mountains, trees, plants, rocks, and ripples on water. Global warming is alarming, I hope to in my way raise awareness. Women’s equality and interpersonal drama weave their way into my art. Sometimes the meaning takes a hard turn or a playful spin. I follow my creative lead till it clicks. The process is very immersive and meditative.
I crave the complexity that arises from my technique: My work is dreamlike, a world of shapes and colors to get lost in. I enjoyed combining photographic imagery for my design clients every chance I got; one of these pieces is in the Smithsonian. Through abstract art, I embrace the happy accident. The abstract arises, sometimes unbidden, from the concrete. My hope is that my art reaches, in the viewer’s mind, a place to connect with something in their subconscious that will bubble to the surface. With different environments and audiences my art will strike different chords.
Take a moment, dive in, let the art take your mind somewhere.
