Dona Nelson
Shoe Painting (2011)
Making Sense at University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, FL [link]
It is difficult to ignore the way in which the paintings of Dona Nelson resemble windows in both form and function. Orange acrylic paint, the remnant of removed stretcher bars quarters the painting like an old brown stone double hung, wafting through to both sides. However, a pair of shoes, as seen by someone standing, is confined to one side, perhaps the inside. Fashioned from twisted white muslin, the wingtips are conspicuous and pleasantly confusing. Seemingly contradictorily the painting serves as a means to pass through and a means to demarcate, from inside to out, abstract to figurative, painting to sculpture.
~ Danny Olda
images courtesy of the author
