Stephanie Sypsa's Online Portfolio

Dissipation of a Woman within Memory II

Dissipation of a Woman within Memory

24" x 10.5" Carbon and pastel on graph paper

2008

Encumbrance 4

Encumbrance 4, approximately 20"h x 16"w, xerox carbon, oil paint, varnish and gesso on panel.
(click on image to enlarge)

(detail) Encumbrance 4

Encumbrance 5

Encumbrance 5, approximately 20"h x 16"w, xerox carbon, oil paint, varnish and gesso on panel.
(click on image to enlarge)

Encumbrance 6

Encumbrance 6, approximately 16"h x 20"w, xerox carbon, oil paint, varnish and gesso on panel.

(click on image to enlarge)

Encumbrance 1

Encumbrance 1, approximately 20"h x 16"w, xerox carbon, oil paint, varnish and gesso on panel.

(click on image to enlarge)

Encumbrance 2

Encumbrance 2, approximately 20"h x 16"w, xerox carbon, oil paint, varnish and gesso on panel.
(click on image to enlarge)

(

(detail) click to enlarge

Encumbrance 3

Encumbrance 3, approximately 20"h x 16"w, xerox carbon, oil paint, varnish and gesso on panel.

(click on image to enlarge)

Memory of a Man in One Instant of Time

Memory of a Man in One Instant of Time, 33" x 88 " carbon, color pencil on yellow graph paper

(before detail)

(after detail)

Example of Creating a Piece of Art

Memory of a Man in One Instant of Time, 33" x 88 " carbon, color pencil on yellow graph paper

After printing the portraits through a photo transfer process, I hang them up to closely examine each piece so as to decide how I would like to incorporate them into a work of art. Sometimes I select one single print, at other times I have selected and arranged them in a group of thirty or so.
Usually the initial printed pieces hang in my studio for several weeks, as I mill over the various possibilities for layout. Each piece is unique and one of a kind, (I use the term "print" very loosley in explaining work) also, because I usually make many prints from the same photograph, I give myself a lot possibilities to build from....

In many pieces I have a goal to create a sense of moment, so often will link together multiple images.
I feel that our our eyes serve as constant clicking cameras, our brain collects and stores the images. When we recall a person or place, it is a though we are able to pull out a visual file within our minds, layer the imagery one on top of another and flip through the images that in turn become active and dimensional. The action is much like a flip book, a phenakistoscope disk, zoetrope, or praxinoscope device.

In this work, I really wanted embody the concept of collective memory. I want to show the idea of motion through a singular image. So I decided to think about how we arrive at recalling (a face) not by one angle but by a collection of many points of visual view.
I intend to show that memory is not stagnant. Our memory retains many visual frames of reference, collectively put together, creating movement and activity with our brain.

After reaching a conclusion on the general design, I start laying out the images shifting them into various combinations. I do a lot of sorting through the imagery, looking for a fluid transition between the images. Within each print there are various degrees of movement and detail. I have to decide how I want to orchestrate these qualities into a harmonious larger single work.

(linking the prints together with an archival document tape)

(linked paper)

(final layout)

Once the layout is complete I can start. I use a lot of different materials, for this piece I used graphite, pastel, colored mechanical pencil lead and color pencils.

As you can see here, I carefully examine the subtle organic marks. Often I draw within the small spaces to extenuate chemical reaction that is left form the initial printing of the xerox and carbon and chemicals. At times I will eliminate or draw over the carbon to control the visual flow of the piece. So there is a lot of artistic addition and subtraction.

(detail)

Dissipation of a Woman within Memory

Dissipation of a Woman within Memory
24" x 10.5"
Carbon and pastel on graph paper
2008

detail

Blueprint Series

Dissipation of my Brother in Memory

Dissipation of my Brother within My Memory
Carbon transfer and watercolor on panel
9" x 12"
2008

Path of Sight Series

Path of Sight Series
Mixed media serigraphs on panel
2004

Path of Image: Sight
Serigraph and resin on panel
27" x 18"
2004
NFS

Path of Image: Photograph
Serigraph, metallic pigments, varnish on panel
27" x 18"
2004
NFS

Path of Image: Transition
Serigraph, varinsh, thread, plexi on panel
27" x 18"
2004
(buy now)

Path of Image: Disintegration
Serigraph and gouache on panel
27" x 18"
2004
(buy now)

(untitled) 2008

(untitled)
Carbon on paper
11" x 14"
2008

Depletion of a Girl in Memory

Depletion of a Girl in Memory
Carbon transfer, graphite, pins, thread and ink on paper
30" x 24"
2005

Dissipation of my Sister within Memory

Dissipation of my Sister within Memory

12"x 20"x .5"

Xerox carbon, watercolor, acrylic paint and varnish on panel

2008

Dissipation of Matt within Memory

Dissipation of Matt within Memory
12"x 20" x .5"
Xerox carbon, watercolor, pastel. graphite and varnish on panel
2008

(untitled) 2008 book

(untitled)
Carbon transfer, color pencil on paper
approximately 6'w x 15"h
2008

detail

Studio Notebook: Filing Project

I am an intense organizer. To keep records of my models and store research for future use, I have implemented a filing system. Below is a look inside one of the folders:

Each model has their own folder, full of photos, prints from the photos and various color test. Within each file I place all the non-electronic materials for each project and any remnant material,for possible later use.

Each File contains a Project folder. The Project folder contains the various print job supplies, notes for reproduction, negatives or positives if used. Basically any materials directly used in producing the artwork.

Above are some of the supplies I am using, xeroxes, white bond paper,classification folders, project folders and time cards.

(detail)Blue classification folder, containing project folder with materials, time cards, xeroxes, used xeroxes from artwork process.

(detail)Time card documenting my time used in creating artwork. An artists mind is working 24/7, creating art takes an enormous amount of time, I briefly am choosing to document it to prove that point.

(example)Opened file (Woman #2)with artwork; produced from the same model from the same photo shoot.

Junctionview Studio before

Caption: Studio (before)

Artist's Statement

My work is about the visceral experience of memory and the fragility of life. My work depicts the brain's action of visual processing, specifically that of facial recognition. The overall appearance of my work stems from a vision defect from birth and living with chronic pain. These physical experiences are important to know, as these personal dealings skew my own retrieval of memories and especially details in the human face, aspects of which I embed in my art. I feel my work expresses the frustration of recollection, of trying to remember someone, only to find it difficult or near impossible to gain a clear mental picture that is seemingly just beyond reach.

In my work I intend to imbue the internal experience of memory. To reference the brain's flexuous ability, I create photographs that are made malleable and fluid. I do this by taking xeroxed photos and adding chemicals to liquefy the carbon ink. I then print it by movement of my hand in swaying the chemical. By this process I am able to create imagery that evokes force and fluidity. I am then able to blur and reconstruct the human form with visual impairments, thereby expressing my personal experience. I intend the viewer to undergo an experience of mental tension. This tension is heightened as the figures seem to be at a pivotal point undergoing change, giving the feeling where retrieval or complete loss is about to take place.

I am influenced by scientific examples of specimen documentation and biomechanics, where there is an instrumented analysis of human movement. To attain facial imagery I document models (all Katrina survivors) in a professional setup used for passports photos. Inspired by Muybridge's locomotion photographs, which map movement with respect to time, I document my models from many angles. I want the viewer to feel as though they are seeing a moment of action or movement. Often, I will use more than one view of a person to convey movement. This also gives the viewer glimpses into details of the face that are found in one image but not the other. The art encompasses a moment of visual processing, some by filtration and others by aspects of visual addition and subtraction.

My work shows the loss of human form made by an immediate act. I create my images by the sweep of my hand. My means of altering the figures specifically by force and liquid are very symbolic to me. My families are all Katrina survivors. My home town was destroyed similarly by the sweep of nature and force of water. Dealing with the enormity of the possibility of loss of life, my work has become about the transitory aspect of memory as a metaphor for the evanescence of life. I am inspired by attempts to capture the human for the sake of remembrance or for memorial purposes. These pieces of art were inspired by the Fayum mummy portraits. As in my work the background is often monochrome, on panel, and deals with the identification of an individual. The approach is simple. Portraits were inserted in a window-like wrapping, as though this were a window within. My paintings too are a window, giving a glimpse into the mind and its workings.

My work illustrates underlying thoughts of how quickly we can be wiped away, whether by death, natural disasters, or by simply being forgotten over time through visual and neurological hiccups.