Photo courtesy of Jacob Davick
Art does the miraculous work of displaying parts of the artist’s inner world on the canvas and reaching out through the creation to touch other’s inner worlds. Each brushstroke tells a story, and every streak and smear of paint adds layers to the universe stirring inside the walls of the frame. The cloth fabric of the canvas comes alive under the hands of the artist.
In Georganna Greene’s stunning exhibit “Tangea,” her captivating collection of paintings display the incredible interconnectedness between humans and the natural world. There exists an inevitable affinity that human souls have for nature that must not be ignored, but embraced. Our lives are intricately intertwined with the natural world in both subtle and striking ways.
Greene’s paintings feature the beauty in this connection in enchanting elements she executes on her canvases Her pieces are painted so poetically with earthy color schemes and themes of green.
A piece of hers titled “Tree Ring” contains a couple blemishes of brown brushtrokes and a sharp line of texture to show where the wood had split, confronting the viewer with an image of imperfect beauty. The thin rivulets of the tree’s rings and the bold sequence of shades that travel from rich to light red, light brown to pale green, and then to dark green, draw my eyes in and hold them there, staring at the beauty of it.
Another painting of hers, “Glow Root,” overflows with texture and the thick gray and neon ribbons of brushstrokes resembling roots all in a tangle, messy yet beautiful, wrapping and writhing over each other, teeming with the electricity and vibrancy of life.
Another piece of hers titled “Embedded” is a poignant painting that shows the outline of a woman’s face sewn into the wilderness. Thick brushstrokes of dappled green display flowing leaves and waving trees, and the soil is stirred with diagonal lattices of brushstrokes going both directions. A jungle of green flows through her eyes.
The piece presents me with both the dissonance and harmony of the human soul’s interaction with the natural world. The external world, the landscape tossed and spun, stretches into and mirrors her internal world, possibly reeling with unrest, but seeking serenity.
Her emotive artworks capture the essence of the simultaneous connection and tension that humanity has with the natural world. This exhibit illustrates the chaotic cacophony and the serene melodies that weave from nature into our souls. The weavings of the external world intersect with our internal worlds in a miraculous meeting, stirring within us something wild and of the marvelous.