Moving Myself Through the Blue

Ginger Matchett

@ging_match_art

https://matchettginger.wixsite.com/gm-artwork

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PaintedPostures

I began exploring the interconnectedness of abstract art, expressionism, and the female figure to create “figurative abstract expressionism”. Through my work, I render the female figure with various abstract techniques and line work with different shapes, marks, and brushstrokes. I concentrate on an experimental process of painting for personal discovery and self-expression. Female presence in art, power dynamics, femininity, and emotional evocation are main themes that I explore in my pieces.

“Moving Myself Through the Blue” is a celebration of my movement through this season of my life as an artist, discovering the ever-long and ever-changing journey of expressing emotion, exercising control of my body, growing confidence, and ultimately finding myself. It explores the meaning of femininity and the image of the female body in art. On a personal level, I ask the questions: Who controls my movement? My femininity? My body? I do. I embrace myself, quite literally, in all that I am. I start my experimentation through feeling the emotions that music evokes, listening to my instincts, and painting through personal questions, doubt, and joy.

As a small piece in the puzzle of a feminist art world, I ask, how is the female body typically showcased in public art? What does this image mean for a conversation surrounding the presentable and desirable woman? Must a woman in art always fit that criteria? Can we create a space where we challenge how the female body has been framed in art of the past?