Phyllis Trout

The ritual of my art practice is physically demanding and invigorating. As a printmaker and painter, I work through a subtractive and additive process: by wiping, scraping, and diluting the ink or paint, the images appear and disappear. I balance intention and accident while allowing spontaneous events to occur. I explore and discover through a continuum of repetition and revision. Although the visual spaces I create are imagined, my visual vocabulary has evolved from a rigorous observation and drawing practice. Objective observation is the foundation of my capacity to imagine and create. My art practice is supported by an equally rigorous mindfulness practice.

My work has been nourished by my study of magnificent architectural and landscape spaces, particularly large public spaces of gathering and transition, including train stations and prisons. I inquire about the nature of light and how light creates space. My work emerges from spaces that are archaeological in nature, where histories are revealed in the present moment and the past and present are not neatly separated. I am interested in depicting the transitional and liminal consciousness between past and present, waking and sleeping, living and dying, light and dark.

 

Phyllis Trout is a painter, printmaker, and educator who lives in Brooklyn, New York.