Silvina Lanusse's new painting series is inspired by poetry, memories and storytelling and incorporates torn paper, handwritten notes, vintage sheet music and other fragments of memory.
“It’s all pieces that are really, literally, torn apart from each other but they all come together as one,” Lanusse said.
Her series 'Visual Stanzas' is a collection of mixed media collages that explore the emotional landscape of longing, connection and stillness.
The series is part of the group exhibition Beyond the Horizon hosted at the Pearl Ellis Gallery in Comox, with fellow mixed-media artists Sharon Lalonde, Susan Purney Mark and Maggie Ziegler.
The show invites the viewer think about beyond what is visible and consider different interpretations of space, memory and objects from everyday life.
Lanusse's process often begins with a line of poetry and she follows the feeling it brings into layering texture, shape and colour until something begins to take form.
“I’ve developed over time different styles. I’ve always been more inclined into figurative work and slowly moving into more abstract, sort of in a cycle going back to figurative,” she said.
Inspiration can come from a book, a moment, a song or a place, especially natural locations.
“Part of me is here on the Island and another part of me is in New Zealand where my lovely daughter and family live over there,” Lanusse said.
She hopes the exhibition will make people curious about what they see.
“I hope that they feel, the people that come and see the show, that they feel a sense of pause that they’ve stepped into something that makes them think, reflect, maybe bring out emotion,” Lanusse added. “In my opinion, the artwork is not complete until the person who comes and sees it, sees it and has a reaction to it.”
The exhibition will be on display until May 24. An opening reception will be held on May 3 at the Pearl Ellis Gallery in Comox, located at 1729 Comox Ave.
