Staf Reports | Happenings & Events
Royse Contemporary will present “Paintings in Perspective,” a solo exhibition featuring a new collection of abstract works by Casey Wakefield exploring the relationship between perception and experience.
The exhibition examines how personal experiences, including memory, emotion, history and expectation, can influence how people interpret what they see, according to a press release.
“It is how the lens through which we see the world shapes and what we ultimately see. Two people can stand before the same image, landscape, or moment and experience something entirely different, influenced by memory, emotion, history, and expectation,” Casey Wakefield, artist, said.
Through layered color, atmosphere and intuitive mark-making, Ms. Wakefield’s abstract paintings encourage viewers to slow down, look again and consider their own perspectives. Rather than offering a single interpretation, the works leave room for individual experiences and explore the idea that seeing is influenced not only by what is in front of the viewer but also by what the viewer brings to it.
“I paint to discover what I’m thinking, to give form to what words cannot. Through layers of color and texture, I create a space where spontaneity and contemplation converge, inviting viewers to uncover their own reflections within the work,” Ms. Wakefield, artist, said.
Ms. Wakefield creates abstract paintings inspired by the creative process and the emotions, memories and thoughts that emerge through the interplay of texture, color and material. Her paintings use layered surfaces, nuanced color and tactile materials to explore themes of reflection, silence and presence.
Working intuitively, Ms. Wakefield builds each painting through gestural marks, layered color and mixed media, including charcoal, graphite, collage, acrylic and oil. She incorporates both intentional and spontaneous elements, allowing marks, drips and passages of color to develop as part of the creative process.
Ms. Wakefield grew up in a small Midwestern town in central Illinois and received a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Illinois State University. She later studied classical painting at the Milan Art Institute, where she developed an interest in color, texture and layered surfaces.
Ms. Wakefield lives in Gilbert with her husband and is represented by Royse Contemporary in Scottsdale.
“Paintings in Perspective” will be on display from Thursday, Oct. 29, through Sunday, Nov. 29. Royse Contemporary will host a reception for Ms. Wakefield in conjunction with the Scottsdale ArtWalk from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29. The reception will include an opportunity to meet Ms. Wakefield, along with shopping, wine and hors d’oeuvres.
