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lydia jewel gerard
she / her / hers
artist statement
Sensations of safety and wellbeing are important. When we don’t have them we work towards them, and when we do we safeguard them. Even in the most difficult circumstances I’ve found myself carving out a sense of safety in the warmth of a sweater or a cup of hot water. "Night Light" is an attempt to share my personal sense of safety and wellbeing with the guests of the Julian Peña Gallery. In this exhibition, I bring together the brush-to-paper side of my art practice with the digital art making that began in 2021. This combination incorporates elements such as luminance, “natural” textures, marks left behind by evaporation as well as “glitch” patterns and other visual elements associated with digitization.
I come to these pieces with very little set direction, knowing that at any moment an unforeseen splatter could change the entire course of the piece. Ink water moves and stains according to its own viscosity and fluidity, and the paper takes in new pigments more or less depending on its unique texture and present level of moisture. This is in direct contrast to the digital pieces, in which I have the ability to endlessly go back and fine tune a shadow or smooth out a shape until it evokes the precise feeling I desire. However, I seem to have carried my lack of planning over from painting and into the digital realm. Here too, I move practically without a set direction, constantly experimenting in order to find a combination of light and color that stirs emotion. The water marks and light effects in these pieces fill me with calm and wonder, while the “glitch” effects are a hopeful nod to our uncertain future.
My desire is that in the intimate space of the Julian Peña Gallery, viewers surrounded by the aesthetic elements of "Night Light" will receive my peace and experience at least a moment of safety from whatever threatens them on the outside.
the artworks
Lydia Jewel Gerard
It's in the Air
1st Edition Digital Print on Metal
24 x 18"
$650
These pieces were all created from start to finish during the Covid 19 pandemic. The concept of a substance that can’t be seen but is in the air around us played into the creation of this piece. However, upon completion It’s in the Air strikes me as more hopeful than dire, bringing to mind other things that surround us but are unseen.
Lydia Jewel Gerard
Skydaddy and the Law of One
1st Edition Digital Print on Metal
18 x 32"
$800
Lydia Jewel Gerard
It’s a Symbol
1st Edition Digital Print on Metal
21.3 x 12"
$500
Lydia Jewel Gerard
Not Touching
1st Edition Digital Print on Metal
15 x 12"
$450
Lydia Jewel Gerard
Friends? Partners?
1st Edition Digital Print on Metal
32 x 18"
$850
The repeating cylindrical shapes that are the centerpiece of Friends? Partners? appeared frequently in my work throughout 2021. I was fascinated by how simply setting them against a background together implied a relationship. This spurred me on to consider the other ways that relationship is silently implied and the assumptions we make based simply on individuals appearing together.
Lydia Jewel Gerard
Did You See That?
1st Edition Digital Print on Metal
23 x 16"
$650
SOLD
Lydia Jewel Gerard
UV
1st Edition Digital Print on Metal
24 x 16"
$650
Lydia Jewel Gerard
New Currency
1st Edition Digital Print on Metal
30 x 20"
$850
Lydia Jewel Gerard
Trinity
1st Edition Digital Print on Metal
23 x 16"
$650
SOLD
Trinity was the first of this series; a real breakthrough in my digital art making process. By using the brush sets available to me on some of their largest settings they functioned almost like elements in a collage as opposed to a brush or pen. Luminosity was another aspect in the digital medium that became central to these pieces. The use of light evoked emotions in the compositions that I had previously never experienced in analog painting.
lydia jewel gerard
BIOGRAPHY
Lydia Jewel Gerard is an abstract painter and digital artist based in Tacoma WA. Her work dances around ideas of decay, sexuality, safety, and the processing of deep emotions. Gerard received her BA in Studio Arts and Art History from Pepperdine University in 2016 and was first exhibited at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum in the group exhibition Light and Dirty. In the past few years Gerard has been an active member of the Tacoma art scene, exhibiting in 2018 at the Spaceworks Woolworth Windows in her solo show Between me and the Sanctified as well as at the Spaceworks NEON event in 2019. Current works by Gerard can be viewed at Cocobolo, a slow fashion brand and boutique in Tacoma WA. Gerard is currently working on a new immersive installation project exploring ideas of “safe space” as it relates to day vs. night.
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