Lori
How does each woman relate to her body? This question has been so much a part of the artist's work since the beginning of her painting career. The female body is a weapon. It is a guarded treasure. It is an object; an object of shame or pride or bargaining. It belongs to someone else. It is of no consequence or it is a lifelong struggle.
Devon works through these questions within herself as well as posing them to the women around her. The answers are always evolving with age, time, environment and social issues.
These women had as much to do with the painting as the artist, posing only as they felt comfortable with their own bodies.
Responses (1)
December 14, 2021
Devon Sharon’s "Lori" is a tender painting that gives agency and autonomy to its subject. The composition is not exploitive or invasive, but intimate and empowering. We do not feel like voyeurs who have intruded on Lori’s private space, but people who have been invited to share it for a moment. Instead of making her gaze and perspective the guiding principle of the painting, Sharon focuses on Lori’s languid body in its natural state (Lori is not performing for the artist or viewer; she is not posing; she appears as she would alone: completely relaxed and at home with herself and her surroundings).
It is very difficult for artists to reduce the presence of their gaze in their work. Artists, like everyone, see the world through their own eyes and, to make matters worse, they see the world as a means to an end. An artist wants to get something out of their interactions with the world which they can make their own; Sharon reverses this process and allows her subject to make "Lori" her own.
December 14, 2021
Thanks John! I appreciate your points! Few things are more important to myself, as an artist, than viewers fully seeing and understanding my “voice.”
- Type
- Painting - Framed
- Materials
- Oil, Canvas
- Dimensions
-
11.00 inches wide
14.00 inches tall
0.08 inches deep - Weight
- 15.00 lbs
- Location
- Breckenridge, CO, US
