Laugh Collage

Having a strong passion for the arts, Iris practiced different artistic disciplines from childhood, including visual art, drama, music and dance. She graduated with a diploma in music, jazz piano, composition and arrangement and in 1994, after moving to New York she enrolled in full time studies of art - painting and drawing, at the Art Students League in New York City. Iris has shown her art in solo and group exhibitions in galleries, museum, art shows and art fairs around New York City. She won awards including her painting 'Submerged' - a portrait of Bill Evans was chosen as a station logo for Denver Jazz Public Radio station WKUVO for 2010. A video of her most recent solo show in 2015 at Gaia Gallery in Brooklyn, New York can be seen at this link: https://youtu.be/Gnb2SNmpBYo Iris' art has been collected and sold to private collectors, interior designers and corporations, through galleries and directly from her studio, on and offline all around the world. Today Iris lives in New York City, where she is continuously inspired by and exposed to the latest, cutting edge trends from many of the world's best galleries and museums, in a city that is the hub of the contemporary art world. Statement: In my abstract work I explore new ways of reinventing my visual, internal landscape as it manifests through color, line, texture and design. I incorporate my practice of meditation and Tai-Chi into the creative process, by creating in a meditative state, quietening the verbal part of my mind. This state, to me, is a fertile ground for channeling inspiration from divine source, and practicing a mind-body-spirit union. In particular, when working at large scale paintings, the flow of life force energy (Qi or Chi), from the universe (Tao, or God), through the physical body, is carried out via dynamic brush strokes into the canvas, and through the visual field completing the cycle and returning to the mind and universe, for an ever ongoing flow. My intention is for the viewer to enter and share this experience through viewing and experiencing of the art. Having a musical background helps me 'visualize' sound and paint as if playing a musical instrument, giving another dimension to the work and my process. The spiritual and emotional joy we find when listening to music that we love is the ultimate experience that I aim to create - through a glimpse or a continuous observation of my artwork.