Lines (2016) — Kathryn Page Art

Lines (Lifelines) #3

2016, watercolor ink, watercolor pencil, 30 x 11 in.

Lines (Lifelines) #2

2016, watercolor ink, watercolor pencil, 60 x 11.5 in. Diptych

Lines (Lifelines) #4

2016, watercolor ink, watercolor pencil, 30 x 12.5 in.

Lines (Lifelines) #5

2016, watercolor ink, watercolor pencil, 22 x 12 in.

Lines (Lifelines) #6

2016, watercolor ink, watercolor pencil, 30 x 11.5 in.

Lines (Lifelines) #7

2016, watercolor ink, watercolor pencil, 30 x 12.5 in.

Lines (Lifelines) #8

2016, watercolor ink, watercolor pencil. Diptych, 49 x 11 in.

LINES (LIFELINES) (2016)

How does one person’s life impact another’s? How do birth order, place of birth or financial status affect the trajectory of our lives? What happens if we are lucky enough to have a charismatic teacher or a loving aunt who guides us when our own parents can’t? This series continues my investigation of a visual vocabulary to diagram the pathways that individual lives take, the ways those paths intersect and bounce off each other, the intricate, endless reaction and response to influences – some obvious and others indirect or hidden.

I have always been fascinated by stories people tell about their lives – how someone being at the right place at the right time opened a door of opportunity, how a turn of events that seemed to spell doom turned out to be the best thing that ever happened or how one person’s life can ricochet into another, changing it forever. This series is a meditation on the dynamics of these interactions, on the interplay of chance and self-determination, individual intent and serendipity.

The imagery operates also on a purely formalist level. The black, uneven, undulating lines contrast with the subtle, intense palette of the ink washes that suggest maps or vast landscapes, electrical storms, or aerial photography. The series consists of watercolor ink washes superimposed by networks of meandering, interwoven pencil lines. As the series has progressed, the horizontal orientation of each piece has become increasingly elongated in response to an implied narrative.