For the Love of Paint: Caren Furbeyre

September 2, 2023-September 29, 2024 

Artist Statement

As a painter I am grateful for the opportunity to immerse myself in the world of color, shape and surface. The vitality of the creative process is in the sensuality and the immediacy of the brushstroke and the dynamic resonance of color.

When I considered painting a mural in the stairwell at the MAC, the scale of the 12 foot wall seemed the overriding challenge.  As the project evolved, the application of paint became a choreographed, physical event.  I think of the process in musical terms.  The flow of paint and color become symphonic compositional elements in the actual making of the piece.  I am less interested in a specific image than a sense of vibrancy and resonance of the colors on the surface. I am also interested in creating a sense of expansion and verticality which is so well suited to the large scale of the wall. 

It is in this process that I work from a sense of intuitive excitement that guides me in allowing the color and the paint to transform the empty white surface to something new, a message that has not been seen before.

I have long been inspired by this quote:

It is not necessary that you leave the house. Remain at your table and listen. Do not even listen, only wait. Do not even wait, be wholly still and alone. The world will present itself to you for its unmasking, it can do no other, in ecstasy it will writhe at your feet. 

-Franz Kafka

Caren was born and raised in Spokane where she is based. She earned a B.A. from the University of Washington and a B.F.A. and M.F.A. from the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California. Her work has been exhibited at galleries and museums throughout the western United States as well as in Boston, New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh and San Antonio.

^{Caren Furbeyre, For the Love of Paint, 2023. Acrylic. Commissioned by the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.}