Artist Essay

Nature has long been the subject of Christine Neill's large watercolors and mixed media prints. She explores moments where plant life intersects with the human world, employing natural forms as the embodiment of myth and metaphor.

The immediate and illusive transparency of watercolor appropriately expresses the unseen ephemeral states of nature. Some of the works combine digital processes with the hands-on techniques of painting and drawing by layering watercolors with archival digital prints. Neill's process entails bringing collected plant matter into her studio to separate them from a landscape context allowing her to examine the specimens in detail.

Developing each work means grappling with the tension of inexplicable opposites as Neill explores the intricacies of the natural world that parallel those of human life. The resulting images chronicle tenuous and vibrant growth as plant forms return to seeds, leaves turn to mulch, and pods split hinting of the dark mysteries deep within. She uses light and shadow, vivid and rotting color, and familiar and menacing shapes to compare tenuous natural activities similar to human events. This is a reminder that all individuals have a deep-rooted connection to the earth and that similar biological processes bind the natural and human worlds.

Neill traces much of her recent work to her academic experiences at Skidmore College, which she entered intending to be a biology major. At the same time she was studying the origins of life in the bio lab, she began visualizing them in studio courses. Her ardent support of the tenants of conservationists date from this time and are reflected both in the visual warnings implied in the Toxic Beauty series as well as the paintings that celebrate our experiences in and the beauty of the natural world.