“I AM AN ABSTRACT PAINTER EXPLORING THE NATURE OF ENERGY THROUGH EXPERIMENTATION AT THE INTERSECTION OF ART, SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY.”
HELLO
Born in California and raised in Michigan, I attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor out of high school before moving to study at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco where I received a BFA in Painting. Always interested in science and art in equal measure, I draw on this research and inspiration for my personal work and have done so since I began creating. Over the past 10+ years, my work has evolved into abstracted visual meditations and representations of energies in relationship. My study of reiki and spirituality ties my art and science interests together beautifully and has inspired my next series based on flower essences and plant medicine. Click here for a traditional bio.
WHY ABSTRACT ART?
ABSTRACTION GETS ME. THERE’S AN IMMEDIACY TO IT. YOU CAN'T KNOW WHAT IT IS, WHAT IT “MEANS” OR WHAT IT IS TRYING TO CONVEY FOR SURE, BUT YOU FEEL IT.
IT WORKS OUTSIDE THE BOUNDS OF LANGUAGE. IT CUTS THROUGH THE STRUGGLES ENTANGLED INSIDE THE MODERN HUMAN CONDITION BY BRINGING YOU BACK TO YOUR SOUL. REMINDING YOU OF YOU. STEEPING YOU IN EMOTION, KNOWING AND CONNECTION.
EVEN IF YOU DON’T “GET IT,” IT GETS YOU.
I TRIED FOR A LONG TIME TO FIGURE OUT ABSTRACT ART BEFORE I REALIZED THAT TO UNDERSTAND IT IS TO FEEL IT. EMOTION UNDERSTANDS IT, NOT INTELLECT. MAKING THESE CONNECTIONS, TO HOW WE FEEL, HOW WE THINK, WHAT WE WANT. IT'S THE WHOLE POINT.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work as a mix of visual art, energy healing, scientific research and spiritual practice that provides a primary visceral experience for the viewer, as well as an opportunity to shine a light on the connection between art, science and spirituality (and everything else) through the exploration of energy, which then brings these subconscious connections forward to the conscious, intellectual mind.
In 2017-2018 I painted The Boundaries Lost and Found series in which the multi-layered paintings of radiating dashes over colorful abstracted backgrounds are meant to convey fields of energy in relationship. In the 2020 Subtle Matter series, the dashes around the edges evolved into Morse code messages. Each painting for this series is based on a crystal. The title of each piece is a phrase explaining the properties of the crystal. This phrase is repeated in Morse code around the entire painting.
It is my intention that this repetition of meditative, intentional action encodes the painting with the energy of the message, thereby providing the viewer with a visual healing experience. This coding can be seen throughout my current work as well.
As I expand this exploration of vibrational earth medicine to include plant medicines - with a focus on flower essences - I’m also expanding my use of materials. In this new work, digital collage and video, light, sound, live plants, plexiglass and wood are added to my painting process to create a more complex and interactive experience.
The paintings, digital collages, sculptures and videos are created to be mesmerizing and meditative and used as a tool or at least an invitation to stop, focus on the moment and BE with the art and with yourself long enough to notice what comes up for you in your body or mind.
I imagine that as I witnessed with the crystals, people will be drawn to the specific flower essences, plants or fungi that invite the particular healing that they subconsciously desire. Experiencing the energy of vibrational earth medicines that would otherwise be ingested, through alternate senses such as sight, touch and sound might potentially induce that healing on a much more interactive and conscious level. This is the intention and hope that I hold for this work.
I believe viewers find a depth and richness of meaning in all the deeper facets of physics, geology, biology, consciousness, plant medicine, reiki, meditation, intuition, technology, and the artistic process. Within this web of meaningful connection woven by the natural world, is also where we find peace and healing. - TARA FLORES
INTERVIEW
“Tara Flores's Paintings Seem to Vibrate on Another Level” by Jas Keimig for The Stranger
“When I recently met up with Gig Harbor–based painter Tara Flores, there were crystals knocking around in her pocket. She produced them for me before we started talking: amethyst, apatite, agate, rhodonite, and others. She told me she keeps them close to her while she works translating each crystal's energy into her paintings.
In Subtle Matter at J.Rinehart Gallery, Flores meditates on and responds to the healing properties of individual crystals. The title of the show refers to the esoteric concept of the etheric or subtle body, the layer of energy just outside our physical bodies. It also speaks to the subtle effects that Flores believes crystals have on us. "Everything is light, love and light. It sounds flippant and cheesy sometimes, but [everything] really is. All of existence is just energy in relation to each other”…FULL INTERVIEW.