Mystery/Endearment by Aija Aleksandra Svenne & Dale Boldt
Aija Aleksandra Svenne Artist Statement:
Handwriting started it all. The impulse to make marks on paper or canvas, which began as handwriting, is at the heart of my way of working. I work intuitively. I may have an idea when I begin a work, but once I apply a dab of exciting oil colour, my ideas change as the impulse to push the paint around, to manipulate it, even write into it with whatever implement is at hand overtakes me. This process, the layering of colours and lines, results in textured surfaces. And out of these textured surfaces may emerge a landscape, a floral bouquet, human figures connecting with each other, tenderly. This results in a diverse set of images that invites the viewer to look. My hope is that you will find in my paintings something useful, something that will illumine what was dark.
Aija Aleksandra Svenne Biography:
Originally from Latvia, Aija Aleksandra Svenne has lived in Germany, Denmark, France, and the United States before settling in Winnipeg, Canada. She studied Art History and English at the University of Manitoba, graduating with an honours Bachelor of Arts. She obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts, (Honours) in 1987. In 2001 she completed the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of North Dakota, with a major in drawing. Aija Svenne’s work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in Canada and the United States. She’s been the recipient of the Mavourneen Anderson Fine Arts Scholarship and a Manitoba Arts Council project grant. In 2006, with the support of The Manitoba and the Winnipeg Arts Councils, Aija was awarded a six week residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Her work is included in the Manitoba Arts Council Art Bank and in private collections.
Dale Boldt Artist Statement:
I paint in response to a primal urge to express the ineffable as purely as possible. By engaging directly with the sensorial qualities of paint, I approach this task by allowing the surface of my hands to initiate and conduct the flow of form. Physical contact matters. Mark-making is, for me, both the source and channel of unconscious impulses. My immediate, visceral approach sets in motion a dynamic and reciprocal exchange between instinctive impulse and creative action. Starting as tentative black marks on canvas, each stroke directly signifies and maps a related inner state. The accumulation of marks provides the ground upon which the application of colour and layering unfolds. In a series of responsive gestures, my process gradually becomes more determined and emphatic, requiring the strength of oils to carry its evolving weight.
By positioning the act of painting at the intersection of thought and form, my intention is to allow each gesture to capture the very emergence of this liminal and nuanced territory. In a process that can take months or years to reach completion, I work on the images, and they work on me. This wordless reciprocity is my essential vocabulary.