Rachel Paxton
 
         
         
 

Blue Vermont Dusk
acrylic on canvas
34x34
$4,400.



Abels Hill Monarch
acrylic on canvas
14x14
$1,000.




Chatham Butterfly
acrylic on canvas
14x14
$1,000.
 

Birth,death and the journey in between. Movement and rest. Departure and return. Ripening and decay. The present moment and the eternal. These dichotomies, the primordial touchstones of the Jungian collective unconscious, evoke memory, the passage of time, and the cycle of life.

Nature itself is the archetype for the cycle of growth, decay and regeneration. Berries, fruits, a small bullfinch or a fragile butterfly, a solitary leaf or a branch are recurring motifs, metaphors for the transformation and continuum of nature’s universal rhythms. Fragments of sheet music imitate these patterns while portions of maps establish points of departure and return. Remnants of the past, whether a swatch of mattress ticking, a medieval tile, portions of tin ceilings, or gravestone rubbings reflect a bygone era of harmony between nature, religion, and craft.

Life’s journey is contradictory: an oarless boat beckons us to float freely, toward our destiny, while a chair entices us to rest and contemplate, to “come home”. A ladder leads us to spiritual ascension and transformation, or to climb higher while reaching for material possessions. The paintings weave together the rhythms and patterns of these polarities: they are both simultaneously conclusive and random. They juxtapose what can be known and what can never be known.

BIO






 
         
         
         
         

 

Three Graces Gallery     105 Market Street     Portsmouth, NH 03801     603.436.1988     mail@threegracesgallery.com

© Three Graces 2008