Stephanie Sydney
Santa Monica CA // USA

In the spirit of Expressionism, with a touch of Surrealism, I am creating abstract images using my own photographs of diverse elements. Things are recognizable but are in a different context. They are paintings made with photographs. They make no sense but give you a sense that you know, or do you? What is that doing there and why? Like Rauschenberg made art out of everyday things, I continue that spirit using the elements of texture, color, form, shape, light and shadow to create new worlds.

I am fascinated by the cycles of life: birth, aging, and death. I explore a common ground between extremes. Chaos and order. Old and new. Strength and fragility. Nature and man-made. Beauty and ugly. Trained as a painter, I now paint with photographs. I use my own photographs. I am interested in juxtapositions of diverse images that resonate together to create new views of the world. I shoot the environment and then layer them into a new vision, like memories that pile up to form a personality.