Abstraction Distraction

1 a: the act or process of abstracting : the state of being abstracted b: an abstract idea or term2: absence of mind or preoccupation3: abstract quality or character4 an abstract composition or creation in art
 

dis•trac•tion
Pronunciation: \di-'strak-shən\

1: the act of distracting or the state of being distracted ; especially : mental confusion <driven to distraction>2: something that distracts ; especially : AMUSEMENT <a harmless distraction>

Technologies in our daily lives have changed our behavior and are continuing to change dramatically. Boundaries between leisure and work, public space and private space, and home and office have blurred and become permeable. Many of us now work from home, our wireless economy allowing and encouraging us to work 24/7. Too many of us talk to our children while browsing through e-mails. Strangers announce private matters on cell phones in public spaces. There is distraction and abstraction from otherwise intimate social situations. Social environments and personal connections are ignored for the lure of wired existence.

The author Dalton Conley describes this social condition in his recent book “Elsewhere, USA” as “how we got from the company man, family dinners, and the affluent society to the home office, Blackberry moms and economic anxiety.” This series is my interpretation of this social change.

In the series Abstraction/Distraction, I portray this daily experience and illustrate the technological, social, and economic changes that have reshaped our world and our individual lives in the new millennium. I am fascinated with the paintings of artist Edward Hopper and I admire how he was able to portray the loneliness and uncertainty of his time during the depression. We are experiencing a social disembodiment in the same way. And who are those we are communicating with in those seemingly impersonal ways? Are we more or less connected to them? Or have we become distracted from everyone.

Click on the paintings below to see a larger view

Other Galleries...

Abundance | Giverny | Distraction | Environmental Reverberations | Food | Florals

Landscapes and More | Falling | Saturday Rehearsal Series