Artist Statement: Lori Esposito

Lori Esposito: Organs of Touch, 2008; acrylic on panel. Courtesy of the artist.

My paintings describe the involuntary act of "losing touch" with shared perceptions of the external world . drifting away from common ground. "Vignettes" within the paintings offer pleasure centers, or respite within psychologically charged terrain. They indicate places in time and can be read as detached from and yet a part of the continuous "landscape/psyche." These "vignettes" also function as "oases" . a desire manifest as vision and sought as destination. Intersections between ambiguous and recognizable imagery symbolize a shift from individual to shared perceptions. Botanicals within the work represent transformative "potions" that define pathways through the paintings' various realms. Within the "potions'" mix there exists an amalgamation of arrangements and gestures (ingredients) . some of these are "active" ingredients while others are likely placebo. The exact purpose of each ingredient remains undecipherable to the receiver who must put their assurance in the concoction . a rational dissection of its parts material, ritualistic, suggestive, and psychological, is largely futile as the parts are lesser than the functioning of the idiosyncratic whole. Through painting, I am leaving footprints in the snow so that my tracks can be followed, inviting others to explore an entanglement of realms, where more conventionally shared realities become secondary.

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