230 Drury Lane
Troy, Ohio 45373
carlywitmer@yahoo.com
My
work is primarily concerned with cognitive
structures
and a further understanding of, if not the
mind
itself, the potential therein. The
nature of
mind
is accessible through individual contemplation,
and
for this reason, I chose to make a book.
The book
is
a lonely form of communication, especially when it
cannot
be read aloud; it requires a solo exploration
of
abstraction on the part of the viewer.
In this
way,
the interpretation of “Book(s) No.1” is meant to be
individually
motivated, calling into question the role
of
perception and subtle methods of individual
translation.
The
goal of my work is as lofty and as banal as it can be. In creating my grid systems, I am attempting
to map my own mind; I see them as a wedge into my thought process; hopefully,
they will be my path to a greater understanding of human consciousness as I am
able to comprehend it.
I
admit to an extremely limited understanding of
what my work actually says to me and to those who view it, however, I
have incorporated my own rather precise rhetoric of what is meant by each layer
of ’consciousness’ I apply in my paintings.
In my stringent dealing with the grid, I understand that I am dealing
with ideas of structure. The grid is the
prescribed pattern, it is the given. All
systems within my work depend on the grid to inform them. The systems of lines and punctuating dots may
create their own governing principles, but only as far as the grid will support
them.
My
work has been described as highly scientific or mathematic, as well as being
optical art. All of this happens, as far
as I am concerned, by default. I attempt
to utilize whatever knowledge I feel will facilitate a greater understanding of
my personal motivation as a member of society.
Whether that is my elementary knowledge of scientific process,
mathematical equations, aesthetics, or linguistics, to me, it is only the
result of a life time of observation; it is my effort to place all of the
stimulus I have accumulated as a thinker into my own system.
This
work is no more high-minded than any child’s attempt to draw the sun. I use what I claim to know, and I build my
systems with all the arbitration that is evident in every other aspect of human
society. To me, this is the meaning of
life; to the physical world, it is a miniscule series of unimposing artistic
works. The only world I can change is
the one I understand through my own perspective, and this is how I change it.
Carly Nicole Witmer.
April 29, 2005
BFA Ohio University, 2005.
You're Perspective; Seigfred
Gallery, Athens, Ohio, October 2005.
Grid
Drawings; Cube4, Athens, Ohio, May 2005.
Beauty,
Intensity and the Sublime; Ann Arbor, Michigan, February 2006.
Rites
of Passage; Manifest Gallery and Drawing Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, April 2005.
Fulbright
Grantee to Quito, Ecuador, 2006-07.
Provost's
Undergraduate Research Grant, Ohio University, Athens, OH 2004.
Kenneth
J. Clifford Memorial Scholarship, Ohio University, Athens, OH 2003.
Dean's
Special Talent Award, Ohio University, Athens, OH 2003.