mutable / immutable

mutable / immutable

Paintings by Kaylah Bozkurtian (’22)

OCTOBER 18 – DECEMBER 11, 2021

stArt.dt (Wake Downtown)

“The works in this exhibition were produced exclusively with paints (oil and acrylic) and archival inks — materials bearing strong connotations of permanence and finality — but their imagery is far from static. I consider this body of work to be the externalization of an internal process: the process of identifying the things  I can control and letting go of the things I can’t control. I choose materials that disallow erasure in order to force myself out of habits of micromanagement. I pull inspiration and imagery from memory because it grounds my work in past personal experiences while freeing me to explore more organic and experimental methods of painting.”

“This process began when on-campus classes came to a screeching halt in March of 2020; the idea of leaving the spring semester’s works in limbo was so antithetical to my artistic practice that I didn’t produce any new works for months — until August of that same year. These new works marked my transition from a preoccupation with aesthetically “clean” art to an appreciation for art that displays its imperfections and uncertainties in its final product.”

“With oils, acrylics, and inks alike, I am forced to work in layers. There is a built-in “limbo” to these media, as each layer must dry before I can respond to it, and each subsequent painting session adds a new layer of meaning and memory to the work. The works of mutable/immutable are neither wholly representative nor wholly abstract. They act as histories of their own creation, setting the visibility of their intermediate stages equal to their aesthetic polish.”    

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Per the WFU guidelines, face coverings must be worn by all visitors to the stArt gallery while indoors, regardless of vaccination status– effective August 16, 2021.