Elizabeth Runyan

I like to work within the restraints of series in order to explore an idea fully before moving on to the next idea.  Within the limitations that I set for myself while working on a specific series, I try to keep stylistic similarities that create and maintain a narrative within the body of work.  Working under self-imposed restraints can become smothering if they are taken too seriously, so I always allow for impulsive and intuitive interaction with the work.

Two of my most recent series, one in sculpture and one in painting, display themes that I will continue working with in the future.  In the sculptures, I dealt with the feeling of bewilderment because I enjoy the confusion of looking at complex machines, bodily organs, root systems, nests of wires, the strange arrangement of parts in musical instruments, and in any other tangled maze of parts.  In this series, sculptures were created by combining and reinterpreting visual elements from parts such as these to create new forms that are unfamiliar to me.
The watercolor series dealt with the concept that the products of today quickly become obsolete.  To convey this idea, I mentally created a dilapidated, abandoned factory and painted what I imagined it would look like.  I attempted to show the passing of time and what might have transpired in the rooms since they fell into disuse.  Vacant factories stand as monuments to impermanence and the relentless march of the contemporary into antiquity.