Elynne Rosenfeld

Through the years my paintings have been ‘fully cooked’ entities. Under-paintings (painted sketches) are sometimes spontaneously loose so I know I could work that way if I wished – but no…I am not done until there is nowhere else to go. A frequent remark I hear is – ‘It must take you forever to do these’. In truth, I don’t quantify my work in time. When I am immersed in a painting, time just is.  Each work is a meditative event which when finished, lets me know, much like the bottom of a conscious exhale.

“Oh…you’re an artist? What do you paint?” is a dreaded question for me. I have always considered myself an abstract painter, though there have been some series that include recognizable forms. I don’t find rendering facial features much different from achieving the desired effect in an abstract. Each requires a combination of skill and intention.  For that reason, while working serially my whole career, a few series have overlapped. I have painted portraits, group portraits and narratives that span forty years. Yet I’ve painted many more non-figurative paintings.

One of these series is called “Space Holes.  I began these in 1981 and continue working on some semblance of these to this day. For me, Space Holes are the counterpoint to the Draped Space pieces discussed in Installment 5. Their subject is abstract space itself, as though the imaginary sheath of Draped Space is lifted, revealing only mountains and valleys of atmospheric emptiness.

Pictured here is a close up of an early Space Holes painting.