Talya Baharal - Statement

Looking at asphalt road repairs, broken ice sheets on a river, a mended seam on a garment or a mangled wire on a trash heap, I marvel at those “unintended” compositions and how they find their mysterious way into my abstract vocabulary.

Aesthetic interpretations of vulnerability and decay combined with the bare essence of shape and texture have continually been at the core of my work. A fascination with the process of nature’s corrosive elements as well as unearthing what lies beneath the surface has spilled from my sculptural work into my creative path of painting.

Spare in its palette, much of my painting is created with layers of acrylic paint, ink, mixed media and collage. I have always liked to disturb surfaces. Through digging back into the layers, disrupting and exposing previous visual thoughts, a compositional dialog emerges telling the story of the painting and the shaping of my language of abstraction.

The painting journey is not a comfortable one, but it is not always a battle. Sometimes it is a delicate poem that arrives quietly.

I paint for moments of clarity. I paint for the times that I find the courage to destroy and rebuild. I paint to feel alive.