About the Artist

Naomi Scheck’s studio practice is influenced by the struggle of existence within the natural world. Her dimensional drawings address themes of time, vulnerability, and transformation. Scheck works primarily with water based paints and inks on synthetic paper or board. Her pieces are gradually developed through a process that includes repetitive staining, cutting, mark making, painting, and the use of additive/subtractive processes. Due to the time intensive and meticulous nature of her practice, Scheck produces a small body of work annually.

Scheck received her BFA in Studio Art from the University of Denver in 2006 and her MFA in Drawing from Colorado State University in 2013. Scheck currently lives and works in Denver, CO.

Statement

Decay is as much a part of the natural world as growth. Though all existence sits, uncomfortably, within this struggle, we often shield ourselves from destructive forces outside our control. We manufacture for ourselves the built world, our chosen environment rich with straight lines and smooth surfaces. We embrace the illusion that we can resist the powers of nature, time, and decay. On the occasions that we recognize our susceptibility to these forces, the enormity of this realization can leave us with a sense of unease and powerlessness, along with a feeling of wonder and astonishment.

With these works, I aim to bring about a remembrance of the struggle of being in and of this world by presenting depictions of propagating and deteriorating forms. My meticulous and repeated use of cutting, puncturing, etching, and gauging, along with added stains and protruding formations, serve to both degrade the paper or board while concurrently transforming it. Once rigid, smooth, and sterile, the surfaces are irrevocably disturbed until they give way, becoming supple, dimensional, and organic. As maker, I become the impetus for both the struggle and the energetic growth in my own unearthed expanses. Rich with details and open spaces, these unearthed expanses draw the viewer away from our built world and clear a space to contemplate the paradoxical wonder and discomfort of being in and of this world.


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