Anna Speer
Eight
In my body of work, I portray ideas related to home and nostalgia through oil painting. I am dedicated to developing an uncanny, yet familiar atmosphere, invoking feelings of isolation and solemnity. The settings in my works are often inspired by the stiff, muggy, warm, and lonely setting of the Florida suburbs, amplifying the disconnected feel of the still landscape. I utilize color and composition to emphasize the lighting within the melancholic and sometimes surreal spaces.
Symbolism is prominent in my artwork, and I use recurring objects to represent different concepts in my pieces. For example, “Eight,” is an observational still life of many objects that may be reminiscent of youth. Each item represents a concept that has to do with nostalgia and growth. Although the new experiences or allowances that accompany aging can be intriguing and exciting, we may also begin to grow unfamiliar with parts of ourselves that have been with us since the beginning of our lives. The feeling of mourning childhood and wishing we could experience it for a bit longer is often amplified when we come across objects that we once loved, now shoved away. I highlighted those objects in this work and created an ambiguous narrative that allows the viewer to assign their own story line to this set of personal items.
I spent many hours on this piece, and I wanted to use this time to reflect on the passing of time, the concept of self, and their relationship to one another. I painted it slowly and carefully, trying to pay close attention to small shifts in color and value to portray the different textures of the items I was referencing. Additionally, “Eight” was painted in my childhood bedroom, where I found all the items in the work, further relating to the nostalgic themes of the work.