Barbara Downs works in multiple mediums with little allegiance to specific subject matter, though my bodies of work are conceptually and aesthetically connected. While disassembling and reorganizing the visual information and materials at hand, she investigates themes of containment, confinement, and the protective or aversive shielding of precious internal information. Her work involves real and vigorous physical action: scraping, erasing, stitching, nailing, welding. She often paints with large rollers for a broad mark, and then scrubs and mar the surface. This physicality brings out an “object-ness” in each piece.
Visit Barbara’s website at http://www.bdowns.com