Angela Biederman

My studio practice has paralleled fundamental shifts in my personal life that were equally devastating and profoundly enriching.  Struggling to capture the complexity and intensity of traumatic events and extreme emotional states, I initially worked in sketchbooks using media ranging from gouache, acrylic, ink, charcoal, pastels, and graphite to found art and collage.  By approaching my work freely and without expectations for certain outcomes, I explored grief, shame, entanglement and disentanglement, being bound and unbinding, and other means of creating internal self-portraits.  While two-dimensional, I imbued my work with tactile qualities through methods such as layering and physical manipulation, aggressive mark-making, or in its depth and form.

As I continue exploring these same themes and the visceral qualities of feeling, I now include imagery of external realities and personal references, such as portraiture and symbolic elements.  By probing personal experience in search of universal connection, I address difficult and often unspoken and isolating truths around illness, recovery, marriage and family of origin.