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Erica Licea-Kane

LANDSCAPE, 2019, Acrylic medium, acrylic pigment, wood burning, Courtesy of the Artist.

Visit Erica Licea-Kane’s website
Instagram: @licea-kane

Hear from the Artist

 

Transcript

My name is Erica Licea-Kane and the works that I am exhibiting in the Newport Biennial  are: Just Under the Surface and Landscape. Both of these works are from a series that I  created, where I worked with the iconic design structure of half-spaces or checker boarding in ways that are seen or unseen.

I build the surfaces of these pieces with many layers of extruded, pigmented, acrylic  medium that resemble different yarns. The works in the Biennial have  shaped edges that I create with small rectangles of balsa wood that I adhere and  cover the initial surface with, allowing some of the wood to extend beyond and shape  the canvas. To this balsa surface I burn patterns into the wood, and then proceed to layer with the extruded medium.

These works invite viewers to pause and closely explore the built surfaces.  The layers and color interactions are often embedded, and almost hidden, but yet,  help to support the overall imagery with glimmers of underlife. Each layer informs the  next as I emphasize and connect shapes, reinforced by formal design relationships  that fully define the work. Often the layers are only evident at the edges of the work  as they take on a life of their own, and with the shaping and density of the surface,  become object-like. My work often references topographical views of landscapes and  cityscapes, and ultimately become emotional-scapes.

My textile background and training, greatly informs my studio practice with  repeats, underlying grids, color mixing, a time intensive approach, and my  cognizance of mixing media in a well “crafted” way. My process is slow, intimate and  thorough.