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Wendee Yudis Koren
Mixed media; photo-silkscreen and paint
Where do you work?
Cherry Hill, N.J. I have a studio there and sometimes use the silkscreen studio at
Fleisher Art Memorial in Bella Vista.
What kind of art are you currently working on?
Recently I have been printing and painting on wood panels -- mostly 12" squares -- and creating interchangeable whole compositions by mixing in various (sometimes random) squares to make diptychs, triptychs or even six-to-eight panel or larger pieces.
I juxtapose various images of mostly women in different roles such as the femme fatale, the innocent girl, the sexy pinup and the generic woman's body. Interchanging the panels changes the relevance each has with each other and as a whole.
Describe your methods.
I always start on the computer, manipulating photographs and preparing them for the silkscreen process. I am always on my computer as I am a graphic designer, so there is a definite overlap with my work. I usually print out and surround myself with many potential images so I can play with the possible relationships between them.
Once the images are photographically developed onto many silkscreens, I start printing and painting onto the prints, overlapping images simultaneously. Sometimes I put them away and go back into them with new images from a new series, thus making new connections.
What's next up for you?
I plan to put a piece in the
InLiquid Annual Benefit Auction in February 2014 because it was such a success for me last year.
What inspires you?
Pop Art, Warhol, Rauschenberg and great figure painting. Nature, patterns, chaos and order. My children and their innocence as it begins to change as they grow. People, women in particular and the social roles society imposes upon women.
Lately circles inspire me, especially overlapping circles. The circle is everywhere in nature, in our bodies, our cells, our way of seeing and categorizing, our social structures, our wholeness of being. It represents the whole of something and when overlapped the parts of a whole imply new connections.
Why do you make art?
I would feel like a part of me is missing if I didn't make art. It's just who I am, I guess. It's cathartic for me. I feel truly alive when I am in the mode of making art and asking myself questions and exploring possibilities in a non-verbal way, which in my opinion is more powerful and encompassing than with the written word.
What do you wish people get out of your work?
I enjoy sneaking up behind people at art openings and listening to what they have to say. I love that each individual has a different experience viewing and interpreting art. I often learn from what others have to say about my work because, when I am creating it, I am in a zone and cannot overthink what I am trying to say. My work is all about inferences, so it is up to the viewer to derive meaning from their observations. So whatever meaning they want to get out of it is valid.
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