Ariel Shea

A painting holds all that is human, past, present, and future. A painting also exists in a perpetual present. This is where my work begins. I find myself in continual dialogue with subtle, often unseen forces that shape our world. While abstraction can be a way to express these experiences, my practice lives in the space between such thoughts and their expression. My current work explores the creation of depth and space within the two-dimensional plane, attempting to convey the vastness of space and time contained in a single moment. Through a blend of landscape, figuration, and abstraction (mediated by colour, shape and line) I strive to capture fleeting, divine fragments of experience: a series of seconds in the park, a passage from a Joyce novel, an unending heartache, or the steady rhythm of a train passing by my window. These visions arrive unexpectedly and uncontrollably. To paint them is to give them shape and permanence—to remain stuck in time. You can see more of my work on my website, www.arielshea.com