Anoka Faruqee — Biography



1972 Born in Ann Arbor, MI
1993 Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship
1994 B.A. Yale University, New Haven, CT
1995 Mortimer Hays-Brandeis Traveling Fellowship
1997 M.F.A. Tyler School of Art, Temple University, PA
1997 Temple University Fellowship
2001 Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant

 

 From a distance, these paintings resemble blurred airbrushed surfaces, electronic prints, or even spontaneous pours of paint; only at a closer look can one perceive that they are handmade. The surfaces are covered with small marks mechanized through obsessive repetition and confinement of the hand. Existing in a frustrated relationship to expression, these pixilated gestures also allude to a numerical language common to computer technology as well as weaving and Islamic tiling.

I make and replicate my own paintings, presenting them as diptychs or triptychs. These duplicate paintings inevitably vary, slightly or obviously, whether in size, color, or method of production. Recently, I have been making and copying poured and brushed paintings. The poured and gestural paintings provide a literal and obvious counterpoint to my laborious and diagrammatic ones. The pours and strokes refer to the Expressionist material accident, and ultimately to nature, spontaneity, and authenticity. These “accidents” yield a surprising array of optical complexity. Making the Copies, on the other hand, is a process of dissecting the constituents of such complexity, by means of a measured schematic.

Whether as twins or foils, all of these duplicate paintings present both an interruption and an invitation to the act of looking at each painting. Though twinning emphasizes the contrivance of looking at a painting, the act of comparison also compels one to look more intensely. Each painting’s contingency disrupts the taken-for-granted isolation of a painting, questioning the idea of a painting’s truth as situated within its frame. The dry monotony of repetition yields the possibility of abundance and complexity.