About MARIA NAPOLI

This work is a catalog of my emotional history and quest for spiritual development.  The pieces deal with the struggle my mind and spirit encounter in processing the events of day to day living. The extremely painful events have proven to be some of the most life affirming, giving the color and glow to the pieces.  The structural elements emerge out of a desire to feel grounded and in control in spite
of such life altering events as loss of a loved one.  I am always in control;  it is the elements of life that we chose to control that shift
us into an awareness of true happiness and the peace that arises
with that discovery.

    St. Joseph’s Day, one of my most recent works, is created with a ground of strong, bright yet soft colors, illustrating the power of trust
and joy achieved through releasing the illusions of an outward locus
of control.  The sweeping elements on the left side of the canvas are t
he challenges I face cradled by this inner knowledge.  The energy is dramatic, pushing towards balance and calm.  The Flow, also recently created, continues the exploration of this process as a glimpse in the moment of the timeline of my existence as energy transcending form.  
The barrenness of depression and anxiety, represented by the gray area on the left side of the canvas, leads to touching the fleeting beauty of pure connection to the soul of my childhood, unencumbered by the years of struggle.

    I hope to connect to the viewer through these complex, yet universal, conditions.  I use this raw emotion as a catalyst to create my spiritual landscapes. I allow the tension of my inner struggle for constant change, which exists in direct opposition to my desire for a foundation of stability, to guide my brush across the canvas.  The agriculture and architecture that live in my memory merge to create a visual language to communicate that, which does not exist visually.  I take cues of color, atmosphere, space and depth that exist in landscape and translate them to create the innermost canvas of my spiritual discovery.

    The oil pieces are painted with brush and a thin palette knife.  There are no stamps or blocks used. Each shape is individually built with the use of brush and knife in combination or singularly.  Dry brushing is used to blend colors while on the canvas, creating subtle color changes, beyond which is created while building the palette, the first "painting" were the color foundations are built before any mark is placed on the canvas.  Hundreds of strokes are employed to create the smooth, atmospheric surface of the painting.  Alternating the texture of the paint adds to the feeling of depth in the pieces.  The interworking of all of these techniques builds the final image.

My work differs from other paintings in its mission to paint the space that exists between reality and abstraction. I paint the ethos in and around all that I encounter. I have developed a language based on energy, where the viewer can plug in and transfer that energy to their own experiences.