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Artist's Statement:
Courtney Hayes-Sturgeon
My paintings are grounded in nature and synthesize pop influences to create hybrid creatures and ethereal environments with mechanical, biological and geometric qualities. I am exploring the intersection of the organic and technological, inward and outer space. I am fascinated with the unknown and the unseen as a vehicle of the sublime, reflecting a reality larger than our normal awareness. Worlds exist around us and inside of us on micro and macro levels that we have little or no sensory perception of. I create these worlds through my imagination to express feminine qualities in nature such as, reproduction, nurturing and emotion. The subject matter derives from science and biology: cells, ameba, flora, fauna, underwater, outer space, reflecting different states of consciousness and dimensions in symbolic form. I think of the compositions as visual poetry that weaves personal life events and collective contemporary experience into a tapestry that celebrates feminine identity, the miracle of nature and our relationship to it.