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Comment by Steve Dininno on November 7, 2021 at 1:41pm

Thank YOU for sharing your insight with me!!

Comment by Resident Curator on September 21, 2021 at 11:42am

Now you have me thinking more about beauty emerging from the pandemic. I'm afraid I have a darker view these days, but I'm still digesting how this emotional response ties into my studio practice.  We're certainly seeing the best and worst of humanity.

Thank you for sharing your insight and amazing art work.  It is truly inspiring.

Comment by Steve Dininno on September 20, 2021 at 8:40pm

Hello Kristen! Thank you for once again taking time to write about my work. I'm grateful for this gift! I'm embarrassed to say that it was my fumbling that caused all those pieces to be named "Sarah". When copy/pasting, it's good to follow all the way thru! lol

Your comments raised a lot of questions for me. I'm truly not certain why the burst of optimism (and you nailed it when you described it), but I have a partial answer. By comparison, the darkness of the pandemic makes what is beautiful seem more intense to me and I'm drawn to what has always invigorated me (the energy of cities, female figures, etc.) Constant reminders of illness and death have challenged a lot of people to search for what is beautiful...which is everything at it's essence. Even the microscopic images of the COVID virus, with it's color, texture and astounding symmetry, contain beauty.

Thank you again for your generosity in sharing your wonderful insight, Kristen!

Comment by Resident Curator on September 18, 2021 at 8:56am

Curator’s Comments:  

Hello Steve, thank you for posting new work on the site, and welcoming my feedback. I’m particularly drawn to the fresh color palette in the works you’ve entitled or grouped as Sarah. While they vary quite significantly in subject matter, I can see the works share a similar sensibility.  I was caught off guard by the second work in the Sarah grouping, which is almost non-objective.  Trace elements of figures and architecture remain, but it’s as if they are dissolving into light and color.  The scumbled and impasto surface also appears to have been pushed beyond your normal painterly mark; less scraped away and more built up.  How curious that these new paintings suggest a psychological optimism and sense of intimacy in the figure that I didn’t sense in your earlier work. During these arguably dark days of the pandemic, many artists I know are gravitating towards a darker palette and emptier space. I’m thrilled to see your new pieces revert this tendency, and push into starling beautiful territory.