ATOUSA FOROOHARY
ANNE
ELISABETH
HOGH
The paintings of Atousa Foroo-hary suggest Realism in depicting colorful landscapes, but always retain magical, ethereal qualities. Foroohary was born and raised in Iran, and her work there adheres to a restrained color palette. Since immigrating to Canada, however, her canvases have exploded. Fo-roohary’s mesmerizing settings encourage North Americans to re­discover their natural landscape from an outsider’s perspective. Rooted in Realism, much of Fo-
“An abstract painting is not what you see,” says Anne Elisabeth Hogh, “it is what it makes you feel.” She also speaks of the necessity of expression, the desire, the obsession. A childhood spent on the coast of Denmark revealed to Hogh the ever-changing nature of light, and she brings this afflatus to every work she
creates. She expresses herself in layers of acrylic, and her art roils and shimmers with a primal urgency that borders on aggression. But each viewing opens itself up for renewed contact. “Let the paintings lead you, and then look again,” she instructs. “The light changes, and suddenly you see something else.”
Hogh’s canvases are suspended from their frames by metal lacings, allowing the viewer to approach each piece as an in­ternal phenomenon suspended outside the self. And Hogh means for each painting to stake for itself a place outside of past and future—capturing a present moment, the time and place where life is.
Website:www.Art-Mine.com/ArtistPage/Anne_Elisabeth_Hogh.aspx
roohary’s work includes Expressionistic daubs of paint that give the paintings tactile qualities, threatening the illusion of three dimensional space. At extremes, this daubing technique approaches Pointillism: canvases become rhythmic patterns of color before congealing into identifiable spaces. In other works, she juxtaposes strong clashing colors evoking Fauvism, sacrificing realism in favor of the emotive and fantastic. This myriad of influences and styles let viewers interrogate the various places, people and paces. In other works, she juxtapos-king Fauvism, sacrificing Realism antastic. This myriad of influences gate the various places, people and times that turn up in Foroohary’s work – but only once the captivating brilliance of the paintings has worn off.
Website: www.myartclub.com/atousa.foroohary
BETH PARIN
B eth Parin’s photographic constructions pose a riddle to viewers by bringing multiple incongruous images together. The black and white photographs appear unaltered at first glance, but her manipulations of perspective, space, time and continuity quickly become evident. The subtlety of her alterations invites our desire to explain the transformations that have taken place. That same subtlety, meanwhile, trumps any stable reduction of the works to one specific understanding, instead inviting playful engagement. Most of Parin’s works manipulate our instinct to dissect photographs into separate planes. Shadows that belong to one area overlap into others, regions that suggest depth turn out to be images within the image, and figures in the foreground bear no apparent relation to their surroundings. Through these tensions Parin confronts viewers with their expectations and assumptions regarding photography, calling these into question and demanding their reassessment.
Eventually, we adjust to the rearrangements in Parin’s work, making engagement and immersion in them more productive. Suddenly, the partially concealed human figures occupying the foreground in many of her photographs – some of whom appear repeatedly in the same image as they explore Parin’s constructions – become our surrogates within the work. Through these stand-ins for the viewer, Parin shows us how to enjoy her photographs, moving through their layers, picking them apart, and putting them back together in any number of arrangements.
Website: www.Art-Mine.com/ArtistPage/Beth_Parin.aspx