Donnabelle Casis

Indicia

January 26 - February 14, Incubator Project Space

Opening Reception:Sunday, January 26, 2-4pm

Artist Talk: Sunday, Febrary 9, 2pm

Artist Statement: How do objects, memory, knowledge, and environment
affect how we perceive the world? And how does that perception form our sense of self?

From diverse and discrete perspectives, my work questions how images are interpreted and contextualized to form our daily experience. My current series explores identity and its relationship to markers, patterns and meaning: from ancient Filipino tribal tattoos and textiles, trajes de luces (suits of light) or bullfighting costumes, medieval chainmail and armor, Japanese kumihimo (braiding), and Pokemon figures. I am interested in how these symbols and colors reflect the bearer/wearer. I am also fascinated by the literal use of patterns in design and in the form of ritual. At what point do patterns change?

Each painting, imbued with vibrantly colored silhouettes and strokes, presents an anomalous hybrid of forms. The whole can be awkward, implausible, and humorous. They invoke a spatial conundrum, where oblique lines yield to form yet contradict the picture plane. By conveying these dualities, my work strives to challenge our visual expectations.
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Donnabelle Casis currently resides in Western Massachusetts, and was represented by Howard House Contemporary Art in Seattle.

Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the Henry Art Gallery, Wing Luke Asian Museum, Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA), Tacoma Art Museum, Bellevue Art Museum, and the Hunter Museum of American Art, among others. In 2002, she received the Neddy Artist Fellowship in Painting granted by the Benhke Foundation. In 2001, Casis was awarded a New Works Laboratory residency from 911 Media Arts Center to create a multi-media installation with filmmaker Dave Hanagan entitled "Reverb."

Her work is included in several public and private collections.