rifka milder
Artist's Statement
I paint because I need to. I love the physical act of painting and everything that goes along with it; the smell of the paint, the brushes, the canvas even the smell of turpentine has its peculiar allure. When I paint it is usually out in the open air. I try to transpose that particular sensory experience onto a canvas, not just what I see but what I am experiencing at that specific moment in time.
The process is sometimes continued in my studio where various refinements take place in terms of the abstraction of an image, but the essence always remains the same. I try to communicate my perception and emotion through the use of brush strokes, color and composition.
My parents are both painters so I was exposed to art at a very early age. They were always imaginative and inspiring and still are to this day. From them, I learned that painting is a process of discovery, for the artist and viewer alike. They encouraged me to develop and have faith in my personal "vision" and to risk expressing that vision, as long as it is a true expression. In that sense I suppose I am an expressionistic painter.
This particular series of work were inspired by the reflections of landscapes in water. Most were painted in various locations in central park.
