I began experimenting.
At the same time, I started seeing history not as a progressive linear
line moving forward towards something better, but as carrying things forward
from the past, mixing the past to the present. History became layered for me, I
saw the concept of layering, not in my creative paintings in a different way, a
different perspective.
At the same time began a series of the earth and its layering,
I was working on pieces for a solo exhibition in January 2024. If I bring layers of history forward, repeat the stories that are hidden in those
layers, retell them, and create something from them, looking at them in a
present light, history could then be seen as layering and not progressive. For
example, I experimented with the concept of a layered history in a work I called
“Turquoise Jacket,” The jacket is a story of a young person inheriting their grandmother's
turquoise jacket. The jacket smelled
like the grandmother, and the jacket brought up memories of the stories the grandmother
told and the value of this stone turquoise and their ancestors and families. The new works I am creating challenge me,
allow me to move beyond a style I had become very comfortable with, and learn
many new things. It is experimental and
exciting.
And the content and concept of the work have changed, and
that is fun. You can see the painting “Turquoise
Jacket” if you follow this link on my website.
https://christinealfery.com/products/the-sky-stone-jacket?_pos=1&_sid=b9d201f7d&_ss=r When I create work, not just the work for the
Earth series but for everything I create there is always a concept behind the
work, and I write about it.
I find creative work without content meaningless. For example, all the political so-called artwork
today is in my opinion, not art. It is simply
copying what someone else thinks and repeating it, this is progressive history
writing, and it is not the unique original idea. Something art used to have but doesn’t anymore. Unique and original by bringing history
forward from the layers of stories from the past, blending them into the
present and making something different, unique, and original.
Does art need to be unique and original? In my opinion yes, otherwise the artist is
just copying from someone else's thinking, not their own. Another excellent example of what they are calling
art today is wall décor, but I won’t go on about that because well, it is not
art just being called art.
