Finding Whimsy in the Unexpected:
Paintings by Steffanie Lorig

November 25 – December 28

Steffanie Lorig, Orchestra of the Night

If ever there’s a time for whimsy, it’s at Christmas. We love the images of Santa and elves and flying reindeer. We relish the sparkle of tiny lights and tinsel on trees brought indoors. We celebrate life and family and cherish their faces around our tables.

The paintings Steffanie Lorig creates play on all those elements, exploring figures and fantasy, referencing dreams and surprises. Just as the unexpected — and honestly, the chaos — of Happy Christmas, Jeeves brings smiles to our faces, Steffanie’s whimsical works will do the very same.

I have always seen faces in random things. The word for this is “pareidolia.” It sounds more like a disease than a blessing, but it’s something I’ve enjoyed all my life — I see sleeping giants in rock formations; a wink in the folds of a crumpled-up towel; a cat in spilled tea.

In my art, I take this inclination a step further, deliberately creating textured chaos, then making correlations and coaxing out whimsical and dreamlike forms and figures. To eliminate control and increase happy accidents, I often use found objects to apply or remove the paint and then shape what appears into meaning. The resulting folkloric subjects are often ambidextrous — featuring faces within faces within figures.

By taking generous creative liberties and playing with logic-defying juxtapositions, I explore the relationship between chance and order. In an intersection between modern expressionism, outsider art, and surrealism, the final paintings are multi-layered, embracing the unexpected and unpredictable, challenging the viewer to seek out the unexpected.

Steffanie is based in Seattle, Washington and is a designer for an international consulting firm. She founded a social enterprise called Art with Heart that helped over 155,000 children around the world and authored eleven books aimed at improving mental health through creative expression. She has a B.A. in visual communication and design from Northern Arizona University.

All items are for sale unless marked by a red dot or NFS. Please visit steffanielorig.com to contact the artist for purchase and to view more of her work.

­— Gina Cavallo, Curator & Director of Development, Taproot Theatre