Ann-Marie Stöhr
My work explores the edge of legibility. I live in California, where the light is so stark and constant that I find myself almost blinded at times. Spending many hours on a computer screen, reading text embedded in flickering LCD lights, my eyes have to adjust to find the right legible edge.
I work with vibrant shellac inks on bright white Yupo paper, an absorbent PVC surface. In my paintings, I create a crisp division between the painted surface and the über-artificial white Yupo paper, which creates shape and form equally in the painted and the non-painted surface. Neon acrylic paint gives the painting an additional element, playing with our spectral sensitivity. I think that our daily use of screen devices changes our visual perception. As an artist I’m naturally interested in pursuing and exploring that idea.
Lately I’ve been working on canvas as well, with an absorbent ground I juxtaposed the fluid inks to the opaque acrylics. Working on canvas and canvas board enables me to get into a painting process that is more layered. I then assemble work on Yupo and canvas in interesting installations where the two painting modules enter in a dialogue and form a new context of abstract meaning.
For more information about Ann-Marie Stöhr, please visit her website.