Adrienne Wooster - October 2023
It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since my first show at The Collaborative. That show was, in a sense, the genesis of my now very full life in the Rhode Island arts community, and I am incredibly grateful for it.
Since then, I have focused on creating an original and eclectic body of multimedia work. When it comes to art (and life) I am both a minimalist and a collector — collage works well for this dichotomy. I like watching and listening to life, noticing the dark and light corners of each place or person, and piecing things together to make a whole or part of a whole. I recently saw a brief interview with an older man, who, when asked what the purpose of life is, remarked that it is to better answer the question, “who am I?” In this way, each quirky, conceptual, or emotive figure I make is part of my answer.
Like so many of us, I struggle with anxiety. Fear is present with me everyday, so I find catharsis in paying tribute to it in the majority of my pieces. And fear is so interesting because it’s both a truthful teacher and a liar.
Similarly, I have been fascinated by the concept of integration, both spiritually and emotionally. I think demons are only the parts of our souls that we try to cast out. We detach from emotions and truths in hopes of being “put together,” but conversely these are the very things that make us whole. And, those externalized and othered parts are always there, wanting to be acknowledged and to share wisdom if we listen.
A while back I made the decision to try to walk alongside rather than run from these pieces of myself, and I’ll continue to create work that pays homage to the mosaic of things I've confronted and integrated along the way.
So, some of what I make is a compilation of all of these musings. And, some of what I make is just for the dark and light, remarkably weird and wonderful joy of it.
