CORNELIA RAVENAL
PROCESS
STARTING WITH PHOTOGRAPHS
Photography is my springboard. So although the works here appear to be block prints and lithographs, in fact, they're photographs I've transformed using layers of filters and painting.
DECONSTRUCTING NATURE
I often start with a macro closeup of an organic element, like a slice of fruit or a leaf. Then, using computer filters and digital painting, I alter colors and configurations. My goals are both aesthetic - to create something visually engaging - and conceptual - to transform an image until it becomes a comment on the original.
CREATING MOSAICS
That led me to PATTERNS, where I started with an image from the natural world, such as a piece of romaine lettuce. I cut out a small square, then treated it as a mosaic. I then arranged the mosaics to create new images that I transformed with filters and digital painting.
See the PATTERNS:
INSPIRED BY PLACES
I'm inspired by prints I’ve seen in India, where I’ve lived and worked, but I also use palettes from Sweden, my second home. Other prints are inspired by Byzantine mosaics I saw as a child. Still others are inspired by Indonesian batiks or blooming English gardens. The result is a mix of influences, both cultural and aesthetic.
See the FOOD:
TRANSFORMING FOOD
My first experiments were basic. I started with a photo of an orange slice (CITRUS series), changing only colors. But soon, I began to not only represent, but to reconceive. This led to the FISH series, where I took a closeup of a piece of salmon, then changed it via filters and digital painting until it looked like the sea from which it came. By the time I got to BREAD, I was abstracting; imagining a shaft of wheat woven into dough, then rising.