AUTUMN SCHAEFER

In my current body of work, I create still life paintings of organic objects on canvas. I paint each subject twice, once fresh and once rotten and decayed. The canvas depicting the fresh painting is cut up and a portion is then sewn to the front surface of the rotten painting. This process creates a metaphor for covering up the disease of depression. This series also acts as a self portrait, so I use a vertical format in order to reference the history of portraiture.

 

Cutting and sewing are important aspects of my process. By cutting apart the painted canvas, I partake in an act of destruction showing personal undoing. Once a painting is cut, the properties are forever changed. The two pieces will never be a whole painting again, and thus, it shows how a part of yourself can be lost. I use haphazard stitches, and multiple colors and lengths of thread because I want the painting to look messy and thrown together. This messiness shows a feeling of lacking energy that often comes from having depression. Sewing creates an obvious separation between the two paintings. This noticeable separation created by the seam demonstrates a false narrative a person will front when someone has depression. Also, the ragged, uneven seam is reminiscent of the sutures on a wound as if these stitches are desperately trying to connect the two pieces and make them whole. 

 

My work is deeply personal. However, I hope viewers can relate and better understand the ideas of depression through the different features in each piece as well as appreciate the formal elements that I implemented into the work.