Carolyn Enz Hack

My work uses color, pattern, and spatial ambiguity to explore how we experience the physical and emotional at the same time. Surface, depth, and reflection are psychological spaces echoing physical presence as well as the intangible.

Water is a primary inspiration for me. Water gives me a point of departure for painting surface, depth, and reflection. It can be a metaphor for different ways of perception or the flow of energy. Water allows us to see into different worlds, into places that are physically excluding.

The flow of energy is also an element of the work. It shows up as patterns in the natural world. Everything that surrounds us follows natural laws of growth and structure at some level. I am fascinated by fractals and tessellations. Forms replicating in different scales is another way of modeling worlds that we cannot experience directly.

Sculptural paintings are expressions of the subconscious. They are metaphors that come from the depths through openings in the picture plane creating interplay of surfaces. The left-brain aspect of planning and executing is overtaken by right-brain free association.

I work from my studio on a farm in Thetford Center, Vermont. More images of my work may be seen by visiting my website http://www.CarolynEnzHack.com