My art practice is content-driven. By that I mean that there are particular areas about our society, our politics, and our history that interest me and that I explore via making art. I've made groups of work about income inequality, the legacy of slavery, 9/11, racial injustice, the Holocaust, Muslims in the US, immigration, and identity in a multi-cultural world. My work always begins with photographs that I've taken. Mu imagery gather layers of additional meaning from other images that I include and/or texts. I've been writing and studying poetry over the past few years and that discipline has helped inform and develop the language that I use in my work. The context structures interpretation. The forms vary, though it's all work on paper, including inkjet prints, etchings, lithographs, collages, and book arts. I've created installations using combinations of images on paper and other materials, and participatory public art projects. I studied art -- primarily painting, drawing and printmaking -- in college and graduate school. |
| Aileen Bassis Statement |