Mindless Decoration is Good for the Soul Painting

Exploring the idea of multiple and simultaneous realities, as well as the interconnectedness and interdependence of all phenomena, is the focus of my work. I sometimes paint over journal pages, doodles, and in Mostly Bad Ideas, index cards with ideas for artworks never executed. Transforming personal ephemera into art is a way of layering meaning, wasting nothing, and witnessing the passage of time through personal history. I'm trying to capture the idea that we each view the world through a unique lens, and though connected, we exist in a world of endless and conflicting realities. The "handbook" drawings began by discovering a 1944 medical book investigating hand shapes and illness. Its images of supposedly schizophrenic hands intrigued me. I've been painting over its pages, creating groups of six drawings to be framed together as one. My End is My Beginning and My Senses Unsensed are the first groups in the series. I combine fragmented 'puzzle piece' images to create semi-abstract, open ended narratives . I have experimented with many techniques and media over the years, including iron oxide, slate, beeswax, glow-in-the-dark paint, metal leaf, blood, sound, found objects, installation, mosaic tile, lithography, etching and chine colle. www.jillslaymaker.com - new work www.jillBslaymaker.com - thirty years' work