Carol Aust at Stripe for First Friday Santa Cruz

 

Carol Aust

I work with acrylics on canvas and wood panels. Through my figurative paintings I endeavor to express the human need for connection and belonging, and the difficulty of achieving either. Each subject in my paintings is at some critical juncture of a spiritual/psychological journey.

My figurative paintings are emotionally-charged narrative fragments infused with tension and secrecy. Sometimes celebratory, sometimes lonely and disturbing, my paintings express a wide range of human desire and yearning. My work consistently features strong and vibrant colors along with figures that are both engaging and vulnerable. My method is to have some starting point—a curve of beach, a combination of colors, or a child on a hip, for example—and then be open to surprises. I layer contrasting colors, adding and subtracting figures and clouds and trees until the work feels complete but mysterious.

I believe creating art is like raising children. Just like sons and daughters leaving home, a painting isn’t finished when I sign the corner. Actually its life has just begun. When a painting leaves the studio and elicits responses from viewers, the art becomes a living force in the world. Viewers of my work add the next chapter to the unfinished story, explaining why the woman is traveling alone, why the couple is dancing in the clouds, why the party is being held in the desert.

 

carol.aust.art@gmail.com

Visit Carol's website: http://www.carolaust.com/

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Join us in welcoming Carol Aust as our Stripe First Friday artist for the month of January!

Artist Reception

January 5, 2018

Stripe

5–9

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