ARTIST STATEMENT
I have always been driven to develop images focused more on the process itself and allowing images to emerge without a preconceived notion of the outcome. For me this process is one of simultaneous observation and participation, adding and subtracting, layering and peeling away, approaching and retreating. Often, before I start a monoprint or a painting, it feels as though the image, although unknown to me at the outset, is somehow already there. Not unlike an archeological dig, my job is to show up to excavate the image or compostion and reveal what is lurking beneath the surface. I am unmasking my own process as I explore my own intuitive process.
There isn’t much that is more pleasing to me than working in my studio, immersing myself in the work. Thrown into a creative trance, the world’s chaos falling away, I feel as though I’ve stepped outside of time. The joy of that process abounds and my work takes directions I can’t anticipate. What I truly love about the various printing methods I employ, is the element of surprise.
I work with oil based printing inks, acrylics and mixed media on paper, utilizing a variety of printmaking techniques. I use printmaking in a very intuitive spontaneous way, experimenting with traditional methods, such as collagraphs, monotypes, linoleum carvings and a combination of these processes which end up as monoprints. Often I will hand color the prints and they evolve into mixed media paintings and/or prints.
BIO
Andrea Epstein is a painter and printmaker who creates vibrant abstract mixed media works on paper, incorporating a variety of printmaking techniques in her own print studio in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. Andrea creates mixed media monoprints and monotypes which layer shape, texture, color, and form in the tradition of abstract expressionism. With a characteristic mix of bold colors and many layers, she explores depth, texture and pattern in her works on paper. By combining various printing techniques, she embarks on an uncharted journey of self-discovery and artistic expression. Epstein’s prints are a literal representation of the creative process.
Recent shows in New Jersey include the Fine Arts Gallery of St. Peters University in Jersey City, Transformations Gallery, Metuchen, The Atrium Gallery in Morristown, Edward Williams Gallery at Fairleigh Dickinson University, The Gaelen Gallery East and West in Whippany and West Orange and The Lundt Glover Gallery in Chatham. Andrea’s education includes a B.F.A. in painting from The Rhode Island School of Design and an M.F.A. from Yale University School of Art. A large selection of her work can be viewed at andreaepstein.com.
