TONI COGDELL

Biography:
"I approach painting as if it’s more excavation than creation. A deep furrowing through layers of thought and pigment, unearthing stories and longings and stillness, looking for a balance from which to make sense of things. I’m drawn back to the figure, the human form, time after time, seeking to capture an essence of physicality yet exploring the body as a vessel for emotions, consciousness, and as a chord tying us to the earth, nature, our origins. My work takes shape over days, weeks or months, a gradual layering of paint, sometimes over text and collage. As each layer is applied I seek to peel back the layers of the subject...skin, substance, memory.