Sarah Folkman’s new series of paintings developed in parallel to the artist’s journey through love and the complicated feelings that inevitably arise in the process of finding a mate. The delicately-painted works on wooden surfaces will debut on February 15 in Folkman’s solo show at CHG Circa in Culver City, “The Burden of Adoration.” The body of work focuses on a maddening, unrestrained type of love: The kind of intense emotion that prompts people to do anything to protect their partners from harm but ignites a desire to annihilate them if they transgress the boundaries of the relationship.
Folkman initially began the paintings in “The Burden of Adoration” as a more intellectual exploration of these emotions, but quickly realized that this did not work well for her creative process. She is the type of painter who uses her art as a cathartic release. She sanded down her paintings and started over, this time using the series to express her own experience with love. “For the amount of time I spend on my paintings, to stay engaged, I have to feel a version of love or passion for the images — and that does seem to be restrained to the images that come about from rummaging around in my emotions,” said Folkman. “Perhaps if I hadn’t also fallen in love at around that time I might have found my way into a more emotional perspective on the initial topic, but as it was, I felt removed — a death knell.”
Sarah Folkman’s “The Burden of Adoration” will be on view February 15 through March 8 at CHG Circa.
