{enter gallery above} Kirsten Savage is painting stories with light. Primarily bottling strokes of light for her conceptual and figurative work, Kirsten Savage has painted the whole spectrum of subject matter – from still life to landscapes to portraiture. But, where multitudes of artists before her have found their accomplishment in stationary life, Savage has managed to explicitly play with the idea of story; to adeptly create motion, and fluid life, on her canvases. Her tales are as expressive as the human form and as personal as her journey has been. An east coast transplant, Savage makes her living as a painter and educator in Fort Collins. Having worked as an illustrator after art school, Savage learned to enjoy working as she does now – from a starting point and concept to the fleshing-out and the grand creation of turning a story into a visual interpretation. However, after years of this work and Savage decided to make a change in her life; to begin telling her own story. Life is oftentimes amorphous and human beings are meaning making machines that strive to connect dots, locate outliers and categorically enhance their lives by neatly pocketing lives. However, just as Savage’s work illustrates – life is not always that neat. Life is not always simple. And while, removed and broadcasting in hindsight, life’s light may be the only definition that you will. The kind of definition that is only fluid; washy bands of interpretation and emotion. Light is a waveform. Light is particles. Light is not always visible. If we wish to anthropomorphize light in an effort to understand what really illuminates us, we could do so by investigating human emotion: longing, need, desperation, courage, loss, love, redemption. If you look into the world that Kirsten Savage is painting, you will see all of these emotions. And then, you will see the light. |
