Artist Statement

The first experience a viewer has with my work is of vastness and movement. For me, a piece isn’t finished until it feels like the painting is larger than the actual canvas; a window into else ware.

I have always been a daydreamer. So for me, creating art is an exploration of the inner world rather than a way of representing the external one. I have an idea or feeling in mind and I employ every trick and tool to push, pull, scratch away and build up layers of paint until the subject starts to emerge. Any method of moving paint is fair game; if a toothbrush is the best way than I will use it. Often, the paint will move in ways I don’t expect, but it will describe the idea I am after better than if I had done it intentionally. It is learning to trust and recognize these happy accidents that makes painting so thrilling to me.

A.E. Irvine, BFA

Audrey Elizabeth Irvine, Elizabeth to her friends and family, was born in Texas but lived most of her life at the foot of the Shenandoah Mountains in Virginia. She spent the last 4 years in Boston but recently moved back to her hometown of Charlottesville, VA.

At first glace, her art it is open and contemplative; an emotional conversation with the viewer. The paintings move and shift, as if the subject is a feeling rather than a concrete thing. Through her painting it is clear that she enjoys the tactile nature of paint. Her work explores different ways of applying and manipulating oils, acrylics and watercolors with results that are often unexpected.

On a fundamental level her art is about recognizing and folding those unexpected moments or happy accidents into the subject of her painting. To keep her art flexible and open to the unexpected she works mainly in oils which allow her to add and remove paint easily, pushing and pulling the piece until it is balanced.

Elizabeth did her undergraduate work at James Madison University and received a Bachelors of Fine Arts in painting and drawing. It was here that she expanded her knowledge of the fundamentals of art. She then moved to England where she studied at Goldsmith’s University of London. It was here that she learned to trust herself and stretch her art.

At Goldsmiths she discovered not only why she wanted to create art but also what she wanted to say through it. Her studies led her to art and artists who would inspire her own work. The openness and simplicity of Vija Celmins work is a huge influence on Elizabeth’s art today, as is the depth and emotion of Francis Bacon. While in London she also had the opportunity to work at Christies Auction House for a brief internship. The experience gave her a unique glimpse at the range and breadth of art and artists in the world.

Press:

” ‘Tracks of a Thought’ is so delicate, like thought itself – ephemeral, on the surface, passing by,” says Stuart, an artist who teaches at Beverley Street Studio in Staunton. “I thought the work embodied the idea and feeling of ‘thought’ so well. It’s an abstract painting, but then it’s not completely abstract. The subject and the style of painting merge together.” – Daily Report Online