UTERUS PAINTINGS

These paintings came about due to my daughter’s problem pregnancy.

One day, starting on a new canvas, I had an instinctive urge to paint only in black on a white ground. As the painting progressed, I had a desire to splash on some red paint. I remember thinking, “it must look like blood”. A few days later, my daughter began to hemorrhage and was rushed to the emergency room with a threatened miscarriage. As she is in her late thirties and this was to be her first child, we were very anxious. When she came home afterwards, and was confined to bed, it struck me that my painting must have been a harbinger of this emotional event. It seemed like a signal that I was being directed to a new series of paintings. The work,“Placenta Praevia” was a natural expression of her condition and led to the other paintings in this series, all related to abnormalities of the uterus.

Because I see the uterus as a utilitarian container, the vessel in which the fetus is carried, protected and nourished, it was natural to employ Rustoleum, a utilitarian, oil-based paint, that is commonly used to paint metal outdoor furniture in order to protect it from rust. This paint also lends itself to the gestural, spontaneous strokes that are a direct manifestation of my gut-level, emotional response to my daughter’s pregnancy, and to the intense, primitive bond that exists between all women who experience the wonder of creating a new life.

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All images copyright 2007, Pat Kagan, all rights reserved.

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