Rendek, Kelly

The experience of being human, of being present in a given place, is a tangle of sensory input, memories and relationships. Our truth is ambiguous and shifting. History depends on who does the telling. Our memories blend with other narratives, our senses can be deceived. In its broadest sense, my artistic practice is an attempt to represent this complexity in visual format. Often, it feels like trying to capture shadows, or dreams, creating a tangible record of something fleeting and ephemeral. To balance this, my artistic process is grounded in physical movement and the use of tactile media, in this case ink and traditional printmaking. Striving for a "truthful" representation of human experience, I work with the same themes over and over: places, boundaries, bodies, histories. I like to play with colors and line, multiple layers, and textures, to establish a sense of alternate realities. I want to challenge the viewer with questions: Is this real or imaginary? Is it memory or myth, or both?