In her latest exhibition “Alchemical Spills” artist Tamara Mendels is showcasing a series of paintings evolving from her mark-making process of pouring epoxy resin onto canvas. Seemingly simple paintings offer an intricate and complex space for thought and contemplation.
Mendels colloquially calls her process the pour, or the moment the fluid epoxy resin is released:
“With epoxy resin you lose direct control once the fluidity of the medium takes over. I only have about ten minutes to work with, before it begins to harden and set. The vessel determines the amount of epoxy that is poured out and how quickly it interacts with the canvas contributing to the eventual outcome of the painting, which I am left to contemplate for several months as the medium dries.”
Everything in Mendels’ work exists in the pour. Her body and movement are fused together in the flow of the epoxy. Once the pour begins there is little room for contemplative adjustments in minutes the works begin to consolidate and the marking is complete. Mendels then completes the work manipulating the negative space with a thick pour of white enamel paint or black resin (as seen in her ‘Black on Black works’).
After the final “cure” the work is completely transfigured, alchemical process complete, revealing a sensual visual feast of dripping paint, captivating surface, perfectly capturing the moment of the pour now permanently locked in time and space.
