Dustyn Bork
dwellings

Artist Statement

This series of paintings, dwellings, captures my interest in houses and how we inhabit those domestic spaces. There are no people in these images, but by revealing the houses at night with internal and external lights, the presence of their occupants is felt in the void. 

 

Dwelling can be defined as an architectural term for a house, whether a makeshift structure, a vacant home, or a grand edifice. When we think of dwelling, we can consider it conceptually as being housed. Although “dwelling” denotes being tied to a physical place and refers to that space itself, the word also conjures up ideas of mentally focusing on one concept or idea for an extended period of time. We can dwell in our thoughts. We can, for instance, dwell in a feeling of peace or in resentment. We can dwell on a conversation long after it ends, if perhaps what we hoped to convey was not expressed or misunderstood. Often, we might negatively dwell on someone or something that has wronged us. In these paintings, I am exploring the concept of being in a particular place, physically and emotionally. These paintings reflect a sense of place and feelings of being in a particular headspace.

 

The paintings in this series are based on photographs I took on my phone while walking home late one evening after midnight in my downtown neighborhood in Batesville. What was once intended solely as personal documentation of the colors and ambience of homes at night late one evening eventually inspired a series of paintings to capture the moment and feeling of peace expressed through architecture. Although my work is typically abstract, I challenged myself to stretch my practice by working representationally with these pictures; my interest in abstraction and color theory is also present while making aesthetic decisions to modify, drip, refine, and enhance as I apply paint to achieve an ominous and ephemeral quality of dwelling.