Paintings by Gina Litherland
NEW!
Paintings by Gina Litherland
NEW!
New from WhiteWalls: The Hysterical Alphabet, with text
by Terri Kapsalis and drawings by Gina Litherland, a history of hysteria beginning with the letter A in ancient Egypt
"... with the actual kinds, causes, symptoms, prognostics, and several cures thereof."
Selections from the book are featured in the current issue of the Denver Quarterly (Volume 42, 2008).
Drawings on both covers above by Gina Litherland.
WhiteWalls books are distributed by the University
of Chicago Press.
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To Each Her Chimera, 2004, oil on masonite, 16" x 20"
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Follow
this link
to a video interview with Gina Litherland
at the Haggerty Museum of Art in Milwaukee during her
solo exhibition "Queens & Vagabonds" in September of 2007.
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Follow
this link
to Mary Louise Schumacher's review of
this exhibit in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
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For more information about the work of
GINA LITHERLAND
send an e-mail inquiry to
The work of Gina Litherland is represented in Milwaukee by
233 North Milwaukee Street, Milwaukee, WI 53202
info@toryfolliard.com
and in Chicago by
1120 North Ashland, Chicago, Illinois 60622
773/278-1664
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Jack of Diamonds, 1999, oil on wood, 18" x 26"
I have always been interested in the interplay between myth, the natural world, and the domain of dreams and memory. As a child, I spent many hours exploring natural wooded areas and empty lots inhabited by multitudes of insects and wildlife. This, along with a fervent interest in reading, particularly fairy tales, laid the foundation for my current investigations as an artist. Much of my work is inspired by folklore, myth, and literature reflected in my own personal preoccupations, specifically themes of desire, femaleness, the natural world, the human/animal boundary, children's games, ritual, intuition, and memory. The painting techniques that I use, traditional indirect oil painting techniques similar to those used by fifteenth century Sienese painters, combined with textural effects created by using various tools other than the paint brush, allow me to create a detailed, layered, and complex surface of images recreating the experience of looking at the forest floor with its rich blanket of diverse matter in various stages of decay. Suddenly, an object emerges and comes sharply into focus.
While some of my paintings begin with an idea that I have been ruminating over for some time, or are inspired by a particularly compelling book or folktale, others occur quite spontaneously, beginning with a decalcomania underpainting which suggests forms that emerge and develop into a personal narrative. The act of painting becomes a complete process of revelation. A mysterious narrative emerges, Rorschach-like, from a turbulent, chaotic ground of color and texture. Myths, dreams, memories, and phantoms of pigment suspended in medium are in continuous dialogue with one another. Dormant images ignite slowly, as our eyes adjust to their dark submerged brilliance.
-Gina Litherland, 1999
more painti http://www.glitherland.com/litherland2.htmlngs Imagination & Wilderness: an essay by Gina Litherland
for more information about Gina Litherland's work
All images copyright Gina Litherland.