Anne Marie Kornachuk

Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so that each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry.
- Richard Feynman

"I am interested in looking at states of being; spaces and events that create questions and answers, and can be interpreted in a variety of ways. I use figurative gesture, color, and composition to speak about these internal states."
- Anne-Marie Kornachuk

Anne-Marie Kornachuk's first solo show at Skidmore Contemporary Art focuses on female figures surrounded by reams of voluminous fabric. In her paintings, the figures are absolutely still, but the fabric is animated, overwhelming the figure at times. It plays multiple roles. In her words: "There is an operatic quality in the beauty, complexity and energy of the fabric, as if the fabric is alive with the hidden internal dramas of the figure."

Conveying only small figurative details, the details speak for the body as a whole. The paintings represent moments of intense intimacy, implicating the viewer. In the painting Ivory the figure, seen from above, is lost in thought. There is an overall stillness and symmetry to the figure and the composition, except the fabric erupts around her and she is sitting on the edge of a (metaphorical) fault line. (In reality the figure sits on the floor of the artists' studio.)

The painting Saffron depicts a figure, with her back to the viewer, gazing to a place unseen and undefined, the fabric she clutches around her shoulders is vibrant and wild.

The painting Cocoon depicts a figure either emerging or being enveloped by the fabric which encapsulates her.

The expressions and gestures of the figures intentionally present a moment open for interpretation.

Kornachuk grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba and completed her BFA at Concordia University (Montreal, QC) in 1993. Since then she has had numerous solo exhibitions and group exhibitions in Canada, the US, and abroad. She lives in Lakefield, Ontario with her husband. She is an avid equestrian and a dedicated student of dressage, spending much of her free time training and having fun with her horse. In addition to her paintings of women enveloped in fabric, she is also known for her portraits of horses, made to exact scale.

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I am interested in looking at states of being; spaces and events that create many questions and answers, and can be looked at in positive and negative ways. I use figurative gesture, colour, and composition to speak about these internal states. I intentionally convey only small details of the body. These figurative details speak for the body as a whole. They also represent moments of intense intimacy, placing the viewer in the position of voyeur or participant. The animated nature of the fabric, which overwhelms the figure at times, plays multiple roles. I see a kind of operatic quality in the beauty, complexity and rippling energy of the fabric, as if the fabric is alive with the hidden internal dramas of the figure. These internal dramas speak to me about everyday experience, where one manages various quiet struggles with more or less success. The fabric also offers tremendous visual interest for me, as well as an opportunity to consider colour and form. My figures straddle the lines of rigidity and confinement, perhaps societal expectations, internal pressures, as well as beauty, seduction, luxury and sophistication. It is my intention to allow the viewer to explore in which state of being the figure falls.

After I choose an image for its thematic potential, my focus changes to the execution of the painting. I am influenced by Baroque painting and sculpture, and so the drama and dark theatricality that I love in the Baroque influences my choices, and the way I paint. I am also profoundly interested in understanding and then depicting convincing form on the flat surface. I work in thin layers, building the form with each layer.