Lori Zurvalec

Artist Statement

Artist Statement
Lori Zurvalec



My art work reflects my view of a sometimes incomprehensible, challenging world. The subject matter of my work almost always refers the natural world, foliage or trees that I have sketched. If I am not painting directly from life, I have my sketchbooks spread out before me and I refer to the drawings as I work. My compositions are deliberate, generally worked out in my sketchbooks, revolving around a specific concept or idea.
In Ways of Studying Nature, the painter Paul Klee spoke of the dialogue with nature that is an essential element or condition for the artist. For me, that dialogue is vital: it informs all of my creative endeavors. Consequently, even my most abstract pieces have a strong relation to nature. All of the art I create is informed by the strong spiritual connection I feel to the natural world; my abstract work is especially influenced by the positives and negatives found in nature. I use many organic shapes in my compositions. I want to illuminate the dichotomy found in nature and in life by making a connection, telling a story, but also to evoke in viewers a response related to their own story.
At the beginning of a new painting, my brushstrokes and mark making are directly influenced by music, most often Bach, but recently, Mozart and Beethoven as well. My work is very mark-driven; individual strokes that attest to the presence of the artist’s hand are important to me. My work is gestural, with a quality of neo-expressionism.
I work in whatever media will effectively communicate the particular story of that piece of art: watercolor, printmaking, assemblage, collage