Caitlin Lonegan
Gallery Affiliations: ACME.
Region: Pacific Coast
My studio is housed in an eccentric industrial building on the
Eastside of Los Angeles. I work in a corner unit that has two
perpendicular walls of windows that fill the studio with light.
Throughout the day, the changing light reflects off my paintings.
I sit with the paintings for long periods of time, incrementally
adjusting them as the light changes. Since I started working this
way, I have developed a surface that exploits the flat reflectivity
of metallic paint and velvety matte areas that can be constructed
only through many thin layers. Moments might seem chalky, flat,
or dispersed, referential, illusionistic, or matter of fact, all within
a very narrow register. I follow an improvisational process, using
only oil paint and linseed oil, and the composition emerges as if I
were weaving. I am finished when the surface feels uncanny, and
when the image reads quickly, as if it were a photograph: an index
of process. When one chooses to spend time with the works, their
more complicated method of construction becomes evident.