The Hub: Aug-Nov 2023 from Evelyn Dufner (Curator)

I am fascinated by the collective experiences and stories that weave through the human experience. As a storyteller, I often play with concepts of self-awareness, evolution, and exposure, sensuality, vulnerability, and at times, whimsy. My work, in turn, exhibits similar narratives, providing windows to my own sense of self in order to connect to the rest of the world. I often identify deeply with the characters or scenes, finding pieces of myself on each canvas, small hints of my own being portrayed with a look, a posture, a color, or a connection.

My current body of work utilizes acrylic, ink, paper, tempera, stencils, and collage to create a sense of texture and contrast. I work in bold, vibrant colors, often blending directly on the canvas, sometimes pushing, washing, or dripping medium, or pollinating my brushes with different paint colors. I frequently integrate paper, either as part of a canvas, or as torn pieces placed in ways that create or highlight the figures in my work.

Much of my work reveals a surreal view of the human body, nature, or portraiture. I delight in portraying my subjects in colors and textures that often shift the viewer to examine the work more closely. There are often many layers, with subtle and careful selections of words or symbols, and a contrast of colors to reveal the subject. In the last few years, intuition has increasingly influenced my creative process, inspiring me to create with more boldness and flow.