Fortune Teller III
2003 (Date manufactured/created)
Encaustic
handmade paper, painting
"Transformation" is the word that springs to mind when viewing the paintings of Nash Hyon. She combines the raw materials of an artist -- paint, paper, graphite -- with a passion for every aspect of human culture, mixing concepts in science and medicine with striking symbolic imagery, thereby transforming them into timeless, emotionally evocative works of art. Hyon works primarily with encaustics, a historic process of applying molten beeswax to a surface. It is a fitting choice, given the theme of transformation that runs through her paintings. Bees transform natural substances into wax. The wax with the addition of pigment and damar resin becomes encaustic paint. That paint is then transformed through heat, the mind, the hand and the eye of the artist, to create a work that is far more than the sum of its constituent parts. The meticulous process of melting, layering and scraping give Hyon's pieces an almost archaeological feel: there is depth here, and substance, a sense of history, and how even the sharpest remembered experiences gradually fade with the passage of time.
Gift of Benjamin Ortiz & Victor Torchia, Jr., 2011
2011.13.16