Julene Franki

Artist Statement

I strive to take impasto to its limit en plein air, my hand and eyes as conduits of endorphins released, as much as possible, by direct contact with natural
color and light. Using a pallet knife, I connect with the texture of impasto as a channel of subjective emotion. Increasingly, the fragility of nature heightens my impetus to use art to transmit, preserve and give voice to that emotional state of consciousness that is a seminal part of human existence provoked by the sensory world.
My extreme development of impasto has been an organic progress of innovation in approach and form driven by my emotional response en situ
using 90% the same medium and techniques used for almost 10 years.Consequently, I resist any categorization of my artform other than “painting”, although I was tempted by a patron referring to “sculpting in paint.” Recently, however, I have used “super impasto” to refer to works with the most extreme extension of paint. I also use transparent acrylic ink and super heavy clear-drying acrylic gel to convey the translucence of organic, water-based living things. Sometimes, I paint them without a permanent surface completely free to hang on a wall or from a ceiling as a metaphor for the unlimited possibilities of art and life.