KATE ROCKEFELLER

In my childhood home, I feel detached from the rest of the world. My sense of reality closes in, each solitary moment is isolated, and I find myself mindful of the present. This world is shallow, and fixed, but beautiful in its simplicity. It is easy to focus on the small things and the everyday routine of life. I associate this slow and contemplative pace with my parents. As they grow older, I’ve begun to think about the processes of life, inevitable change, and senescence. In these paintings, I describe my parents’ faces, exploring their outlines, their expressions, and illustrating every feature until I begin to see my own. Among their portraits are depictions of insects, plants, and objects that I associate with my parents and their home. Inspired by my mom and dad’s appreciation of nature, these small paintings express my own feelings towards the passing of time as well as my parents’ peaceful embrace of growth and decay. Atop the paintings, crawling across their surfaces, are hand-sculpted mushrooms and snails. Growing from my parents’ portraits, these small details explore the process of decomposition. Organisms like snails, slugs, and fungi assist with the process of decay, perpetuating the circle of life, and allowing for something new to grow. In this body of work, I have given myself the opportunity to reflect on my own fear, appreciation, and eventual acceptance of growing old as their age weighs heavily on my mind.