Liz Trapp

Region: MFA Annual

This work comes out of a desire to capture a sense of urgency or energy on the canvas. I initially had no intention of cutting the canvas or making space explode. When I placed the first gesture on the canvas, I immediately felt the need to expose space in a way that couldn’t be achieved with paint and material alone. It had to be transformed into the physical. The gesture—cut, painted, constructed out of material—acts as a re-inscription of the abstract expressionist brushstroke.

My process is married to formalism. I make choices in material, color, and composition primarily in connection with formal elements; secondary to this process are the identities of the materials themselves. Often domestic, soft, or delicate, these materials can be read as feminine, and the paintings can be read in connection with the body. The cuts operate as orifices, gashes, or sometimes smears.

I’m interested in exploring the tension between painting, sculpture, and architectural space.