Kailee Elisha Batson - Mixed Media Visual Artist

    "Yellowing" featured a large installation piece, a part of which is pictured above, a manipulated antique mirror is adorned with found objects, wax, and mica flakes. The installation, entitled "Objects of Memory" presented a female figure amidst an earth-reclaimed living room setting. In addition to the installation, "Yellowing" also includes acrylic and oil paintings, several mixed media assemblage shadowboxes, ink drawings, and ceramic sculptures. 

   (Above photo by Adrian Caloobanan, in my studio space at the Art Studio, Inc. in Beaumont, TX.)

ARTIST STATEMENT

    Time is the main conceptual consideration in “Yellowing.” The title refers to the gradual degradation over time of our bodies, of our memories — and of the inevitable expiration of our world. 

   A wide array of media is utilized to portray human life in conjunction with nature. For instance, the collaged use of radiographic films gives the viewer an internal perspective of the human body and its inescapable decay. These films are juxtaposed with natural elements to suggest the new life which springs from decomposition.

   In the installation portion of this series, earth has reclaimed a living room setting, illustrating the mundanity of wasted time. A figure is surrounded by the trappings of a typical Western lifestyle — entranced by the television screen, her senses drowned out by inebriation. Time has ticked away, and the figure stares blankly as the moss overgrowth creates a new landscape before her eyes.

This tableau is a visual conversation about the consequences of time wasted; the world passes by as one sits idle. Time is given value by repetitive use of gold and silver, not only within the installation, but also in paintings, drawings, sculptures, and mixed media assemblages. These colors partly represent the materialism of our world, as well as the divine intervention of nature’s reclamation of that same world. 

   Aging is represented through the use of melted candles, the yellowing of paper, empty nests, and dried flowers. A grandfather clock specifically refers to our lives hanging in the balance of time: empty turtle shells are suspended within by strings of pearls. Oyster shells cover the sides of an antique television set, as crawfish holes completely fill the inside. Formerly discarded ceramic sculptures of landscapes take new life with added found objects, all encased in glitter and resin. Empty turtle shells are repeated in paintings, again with strings of pearls cascading around them, referencing that which is left behind when the living being transcends this mortal realm. 

   This body of work begs the viewer to question how finite is the human lifespan, the parasitic relationship between man and nature, and the enormous amount of time and potential that is wasted by so many individuals.