Jennifer Berotti

My work is often influenced by my love of natural shapes and my desire to manipulate them. My goal is to always make beautiful images that are slightly "off" in order to draw the viewer in for a closer look. Never take something for face value, there should be something more. While making Three Trees in the Ivy I tried to evoke the feeling of calm clarity, which is possible on a quiet walk through the woods. Possibly alone, with few distractions, we start to see, hear and feel more than we first noticed. Nooks and crevasses start to look different, branches creek behind us at the very moment we pass them, and the wind moves something...but it's gone. In this moment observation makes a leap to imagination and the image that I wish to make is no longer a realistic representation of a landscape but a shadowy grove of scarred trees who guard a path to somewhere else. I guess I started out to be an Illustrator but I stopped halfway. There is always some story in my work but I can never bring myself to finish it. I prefer to let the viewers come to their own conclusions. I think that’s the test of my work. A piece is successful when people see beyond the apparent aesthetic quality. To think about art, for me, is as great a joy as looking at it.