ARTIST STATEMENT
 

Valentina Atkinson’s work is best known for her free-spirited use of overlapping fields of color in abstract watercolor compositions that fall outside of traditional genre conventions. Her recent explorations have cultivated a hybrid form that collapses the distinction between painting and collage based on her incorporation of painted acetate layers on paper. In addition, Atkinson’s works on paper encompass acrylic, encaustic, guilding and ink/watercolor compositions.

Reflected in Atkinson’s work is a sense of syncretism that draws on the aesthetic traditions, visual legacies and experiences associated with her early life in Mexico, as well as the pleasure she derives from children’s art.  

Atkinson’s compositions are rich, intimate and expressive. There is also an ephemeral quality about them. About this, the artist says: “I am drawn to the vital movement and creativity of human beings. I believe my own work is a reflection of ‘a moment in movement,’ and an expression of my authentic self. In a sense, my work becomes an attempt to render the invisible visible. The work requires no explanation; my objective is to create art that honors the relationship between object and viewer; and acknowledges the unlimited and spontaneous nature of that wonderful open-ended dynamic.”