Patri O'Connor
oil on canvas

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As a child, I was always conscious of visual imagery. The clouds were always recognizable shapes and the trees hid faces and creatures from everyone but me. Imagination, not precision, drives my work. Mostly, I want to create a dreamscape environment so that the viewer can move into memories or feelings of recognition of a time or place they may recall or relate to abstractly.

Growing up in a family of globe trotters exposed me to a variety of cultural experiences that spanned three continents. My earliest memories are of Gothic churches and beaches in Spain. The diversity of landscape and culture ranging from the deserts of New Mexico to the jungles of Venezuela and Paraguay, the cultural cornucopia of Mexico, the amazing landscapes of Chile, to the seemingly tame suburban environs of Detroit, Michigan shaped and inspired my visual aesthetic.

My paintings, though representational, are not realistic in the sense of being faithful to the subject. They are infused with a dreamlike quality that is similar to reality to but not necessarily true, a dimension that is more vivid and brilliant than the realm we inhabit. They are abstract, yet pay attention to detail and texture. Each painting has contrasts, whether it involves a juxtaposition of lights and darks, textural differences or the visual effect of contrasting reality and expressionism within one canvas.

My muse, aside from visual imagery, is the intangible realm of music. My process is candid. I show up and the canvas dictates where it wants to go.