The Loneliest Place On Earth
2020
digital print
Artist Statement
These paintings appear like cutouts, referencing pop-culture magazines and consumerism, both that tend to romanticize "party" lifestyle. They image themselves however, represent the often private and shameful moments associated with active drug addiction. They highlight the fact many people who suffer with this disease do so in isolation. It is still very stigmatized and many people die before they are able to ask for help. These paintings emphasize the underlying humanity still present in the person.
Bio and Websites
Sheena Rae Dowling received her MFA in Sculpture from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and her BFA in Painting from San Diego State University. Her work employs multiple practices including painting, sculpture, and installation. She has shown her work throughout the United States and in Mexico and currently has a piece in the group show Illumination at the San Diego Art Institute. She has been teaching art in a variety of settings including classrooms, non-profit spaces, private studios, and non traditional art spaces for over the last 15 years. She has done extensive work independently and through partnerships to provide art services as a means to process trauma including people in recovery from addiction and alcoholism, women who are survivors of sex trafficking, and children in transitional housing and foster homes, sharing tools that can be used as emotional coping mechanisms.
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