WHO I AM
Everyone loves a brief biography: Amos Laurel Staffler was born in San Francisco and grew up in the Bay Area. She lives on Bainbridge Island with her three children and their animals. Amos’s paintings are collected across the US and on four continents.
WHY AND HOW I CREATE
I paint in abstract to get to a place that words don’t reach. Without words, experience cuts a different path to intimacy, using subjective interpretation and connection.
I was born with one seeing eye and as result, no true “depth perception.” My paintings explore my interpretation of the concept of depth. They invite the viewer to look past the surface to the deeper beyond. My technique is my own, evolved from my origin in a family of artists, through formal training, a chronic, unrelenting curiosity, and years of work. In a piece-specific approach, I start with canvas or wood panel and apply layers and remove layers with multiple mediums.
About the artist
I was born with one seeing eye and as result, no true “depth perception.” My paintings explore my interpretation of the concept of depth. They invite the viewer to look past the surface to the deeper beyond. My technique is my own, evolved from my origin in a family of artists, through formal training, a chronic, unrelenting curiosity, and years of work. In a piece-specific approach, I start with canvas or wood panel and apply layers and remove layers with multiple mediums.
About the artist
ABOUT MY CURRENT WORK
Blank canvas inside out. Beginning — the journey.
Original mixed media on canvas.
The concept of beginning intrigues me. I recognize the concept of start as an intentional call to order but I see "beginning" as an illusion. The notion of tabula rasa is a construction. What came before got us to this moment — nothing is ever really a beginning. Either that, or everything is a beginning.
This series means to challenge tabula rasa, the blank slate. Each canvas was dyed and aged before it was framed, stretched and the conversation of layers evolved. Each beginning started with an already-essence that informed that piece. Pigment, metals and medium applied and scraped and reapplied and again. Some pieces were stored for years and then changed into something unrecognizable from what they were and some have simply grown up.
Today is the beginning of the journey — the elusive edge between present and future. Constantly shifting. That which went before is the structural past that supports the present from which to launch the future. This is beginning. This is beginning. This is beginning.
Each painting breathes and evolves. Pigment may bloom and metals may subtly oxidize over time as the pieces live and patina in their environment.
Original mixed media on canvas.
The concept of beginning intrigues me. I recognize the concept of start as an intentional call to order but I see "beginning" as an illusion. The notion of tabula rasa is a construction. What came before got us to this moment — nothing is ever really a beginning. Either that, or everything is a beginning.
This series means to challenge tabula rasa, the blank slate. Each canvas was dyed and aged before it was framed, stretched and the conversation of layers evolved. Each beginning started with an already-essence that informed that piece. Pigment, metals and medium applied and scraped and reapplied and again. Some pieces were stored for years and then changed into something unrecognizable from what they were and some have simply grown up.
Today is the beginning of the journey — the elusive edge between present and future. Constantly shifting. That which went before is the structural past that supports the present from which to launch the future. This is beginning. This is beginning. This is beginning.
Each painting breathes and evolves. Pigment may bloom and metals may subtly oxidize over time as the pieces live and patina in their environment.
