The Visit with Andre
Mixed media on paper
Art Dimensions: 40" x 26"
Framed Dimensions: 46" x 32"
Frame Description: Black square profile, float-mounted
Exhibition - Depth: Layers in Translation
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Artist Biography
Mary Koenen Clausen’s mixed media collages are rich in texture and image. Her works frequently are comprised of three visual fields or planes: the heavens, earth, and underworld. Figures composed of mismatched heads and bodies float among animals, icons, musical notes, and foreign texts on backgrounds thickly painted with deep hues. Mary sees the musical notes, symbols and foreign text, many of which she reproduces in her own hand, as messages emanating from her spiritual guides while channeling energy from other time and space dimensions. Hers is a truly unique creative process.
Mary says of her process: “Collage is a matter of refining design. I sit with the pieces scattered around me and they come together. I always think in terms of layers. I don’t treat collage differently from painting.” She gathers her material from Italian magazines, 17th and 18th century Bibles, antique books, among other sources. Mary also uses photographs of her surroundings in her work. Her home and studio are full of paintings, photographs, wall hangings, dolls, and other collected objects, an environment that reflects the complexity of her work.
Artist Statement
"My work has come full circle. I started doing art as drawing and printmaking and for the last forty years I have primarily been a painter. I have discovered much in the form of techniques and design during the last six months.
I am currently going back to resurrect my love for printmaking and as always painting. Something new is the inlaid precious metals. Some of the techniques I use are tools that help to manipulate the painted surface.
I strive for symmetry in my paintings, but my process always takes me into an abyss of fragments and unstructured chaos. There seems to be an alchemical formula with combining my dry pigment paint, crayons, and precious metals. I use pure 24k yellow gold and sterling silver sheets. When all of these sources are pulled together they make the kind of surface I strive for. I build many layers of paint and use my tools to manipulate the paint, unveiling what is there beneath. Much like an archeological dig. I break down the surface to built it up in new layers.
I access both side of my brain, and I go deep in my brain to design the forms and messages in my work. I have developed a way of seeing and feeling a systemic nature as they coexist. As in life there is darkness and light. Rather than judging the notion that one is better than the other I feel both emotions as one experience. I choose to not intellectualize my work, but rather I let myself feel the guidance I receive as I work. I call my finished pieces as an eternal moment which holds everything. I leave the rest to the viewer. I have been told that depending on the viewers capacity to feel the layers of my work, my work can be understood as a mystical whole. This is what transcending means to me. Allowing yourself to have the ability to see the intuitive unseen world.
This is life for me."
