Cheryl Tall / Selected Artwork / Biography / Artist Statement / Past Exhibitions
Cheryl Tall - Artist Statement
My surrealistic comic-tragic tableau invites the viewer into a world dynamically and intentionally at odds with itself. My works are created from a stream of consciousness, revealing my tweaked sensibilities and humorous sense of irony.
Narrative and journalistic, my work is inspired by ancient art, travel, mythology, pop culture, folk art, and expressionism. I often unite architectural and figurative images, portraying the house as dwelling, shelter, temple, dynasty, prison, castle, fortress, retreat or nest.
By using windows as eyes, shingles as hair, and heads topped with an animal or a house, I animate each piece and assign them personalities.
My work fuses storybook illustration with surrealism and medieval folk art. I deal with global issues by posing pop culture references against 12th century characters. Influenced by Renaissance paintings, my work portrays multiple figures in close proximity, exploring the tensions and strengths inherent in today’s society.
The pop surrealist influence gives my work an engaging and dreamlike quality. By using meticulous clay techniques to create a complex surface, I draw in the viewer. Like messengers from an ancient tale, my sculptures and paintings beckon us to come closer and closer, so that they might tell us their story.
Narrative and journalistic, my work is inspired by ancient art, travel, mythology, pop culture, folk art, and expressionism. I often unite architectural and figurative images, portraying the house as dwelling, shelter, temple, dynasty, prison, castle, fortress, retreat or nest.
By using windows as eyes, shingles as hair, and heads topped with an animal or a house, I animate each piece and assign them personalities.
My work fuses storybook illustration with surrealism and medieval folk art. I deal with global issues by posing pop culture references against 12th century characters. Influenced by Renaissance paintings, my work portrays multiple figures in close proximity, exploring the tensions and strengths inherent in today’s society.
The pop surrealist influence gives my work an engaging and dreamlike quality. By using meticulous clay techniques to create a complex surface, I draw in the viewer. Like messengers from an ancient tale, my sculptures and paintings beckon us to come closer and closer, so that they might tell us their story.