thirza kotzen

Sometimes there is a need to stand back and assimilate the threads of one's life in order to see and understand the journey one has taken.

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These paintings are current, but they are based on things past as well as new explorations. I have been remembering my childhood in South Africa. There the garden of our family home became my first 'inner landscape'. I also recall my journey to study, travel and then teach in the United States. The Grand Canyon was an overwhelming inspiration to paint: Alaska confirmed landscape as the predominant language that I would need to express myself.

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Since then I have been inspired by many land and urban-scapes around the world, particularly those of southern Europe. My work has evolved to a point where I am driven to communicate the wonder of things I have seen and felt as simply and directly as possible.

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Together these paintings tell of a journey that has brought me to a contemporary place where landscape is not a vista but a powerful interpretation of a personal view.

 

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