TARA FLORES
SUBTLE MATTER
FEB 22 - APRIL 4, 2020
OPENING RECEPTION
February 22, 2020 - 3 p.m.-6 p.m.
Subtle Matters, an exhibition of new scientifically inspired, intuitively created paintings by Tara Flores, on view February 22 – April 4, 2020. Opening Reception, Saturday February 22, 2020 from 3-6 p.m.
In Subtle Matters, Flores’ paintings are meditations on the healing properties of individual crystals. Referencing the subtle body (the layer of energy just outside the physical body), the delicately complex range of human experience and emotion, and the physical crystals themselves, Subtle Matter celebrates the power of vibrational medicine and its ability to heal, recognizing that everything is simply energies in relationship. In this space between science and spirituality, Subtle Matter encourages the viewer to consider the physical reality of the effects of energies large and small, subtle and overt, have on our mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.
In conjunction with the exhibition, a digital catalog will be published with an essay by independent arts writer and curator, Sarra Scherb.
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My scientifically inspired, intuitive creative process explores the intersection of art, science and spirituality. Energy and movement, the essential elements of existence, are central to my work.
I paint this moving energy as the light of being, the chemistry of emotion and as coded information. I imagine energy fields in relationship on a quantum level, particularly at the boundaries and meeting places that birth change. I imagine the microcosm of our bodies, our cells, our psyches and how these inner spaces interface with the rest of existence.
The Subtle Matter series continues this work via a collection of painted meditations on the healing properties of individual crystals. Referencing the Etheric or Subtle Body (the layer of energy just outside the physical body), the delicately complex range of human experience and emotion, and the physical crystals themselves, Subtle Matter celebrates the power of vibrational medicine and its ability to heal, recognizing that everything is simply energies in relationship.
What we physically relate to and bring into our energy field has a very real impact on our being whether we are conscious of it or not. Science shows us this is true. Tuning into the subtle energy of an object like a crystal, which has its own history and properties, is an exercise in expanding our awareness of this impact so we can then use it to make changes with intention as we move through our lives as part of the universe.
In this space between science and spirituality, the Subtle Matter series encourages us to consider the physical reality of the effects of energies large and small, subtle and overt, on our mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. For this work, as in the previous series Boundaries Lost and Found, I use multiple layers of house paint to achieve a rich history of complex and fragmented information that combines to form a unique and whole “reality.” This “reality” changes when viewed from different distances and perspectives, lending the paintings a sense of being the living, pulsing, emanating fields I imagine them to be. This series however, is also encoded with information from the crystals. Each painting includes a coded repeating pattern of dashes making up the outermost ring that spreads to the edges. These Morse Code patterns communicate the stones properties (the titles are the codes)- and the intentional energy that I explored, held and often experienced myself while creating each piece.
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After graduating from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2007 with a BFA in Painting, Flores’ focus has been on creating large-scale abstract paintings with a rich history of complex and fragmented information via color and shape. Her work has been included in several print publications and national exhibitions, including several in New York, Los Angeles and Seattle. She lives with her family near Seattle, WA.