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Artist Statement
Fundamentally to me painting is an emotional, psychological activity&-;a language to express myself. The sensual perception
of the world to me is the most poignant. I respond to images, particularly those that affect both thought and feeling.
To me the most profound visual experiences are ones of sorrow, pain, and of loss. Often this pain is manifested in a physical
sense&-;yet this loss can be viewed in a psychological sense as well. Paintings such as The Scream by Edvard Munch and
Melancholia by Albrecht Dürer are clear examples of this concept.
The figure, specifically the portrait, has always been a vehicle of personal expression for me. In art school I was encouraged
to study the language of painting. Much consideration was given to the formal properties in art...the shaping, the crafting
of the form as it relates/defines the content. While I would be painting a portrait of my mom and dad I would be looking at
Gorky&-;s The Artist and his Mother.
Much of my work is a struggle to make clear my personal issues in a visual context. Within my recent painting I portray
a variety of children diagnosed with autism. My intention is quite literally to visualize what autism looks like, i.e. individualize
or "put a face on it". There are many faces/ facets to the disorder and that is part of the puzzle in defining autism.
In studying portraiture I have been recently engaged with the photographer Dianne Arbus. Her work documents a world of
beauty and pain. Many of her portraits portray individuals who are not the glamorous or beautiful people we are accustomed
to seeing on television and magazines. These are people who are often overlooked, discounted, or even forgotten, but are a
very real part of our human landscape.
As a parent of twins diagnosed with autism what has struck me most profoundly are the different manifestations of the
disorder. How does one understand a disability or disorder that does not often show itself with clear physical attributes?
How do these children "face their disability"? Living in a social world with a social deficit these children are
required to "face a world" that is often times painful, scary, and nonsensical to them. In my work I attempt to
exhibit both the dignity and difficulty these children face, who must struggle in our world on daily basis.
Kathleen Dugan
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