Abstraction, Collage, and Colour Theory by Erin O'Brien
Accompaniment, mixed media collage
Erin O’Brien is an artist based in San Diego, California. In her current artistic practice, Erin uses mixed media to create complex abstracted works that utilize elements of abstraction, collage, and colour theory.
Overcast, mixed media on canvas
Much of the artist’s portfolio feels like there is an emphasis on exploration -- even in works that are visually heavy, or dark, there’s a sense that Erin is having great fun creating them, and that this lighthearted approach allows her to push into more extreme visual aesthetics. The artist’s mixed media collages present an interesting blend of photographic materials and abstract painting. The artist often creates these works within an artistic journal, which allows for an interplay between works that face each other on either side of the book’s spine.
There’s a sense, in these mixed media works, that we are seeing the artist react to the visuals that she incorporates into each collage. The abstracted brush marks and planes of texture and colour that surround the occasional cut-out motifs recontextualize these images so that they appear as fragments of a continuous thought process.
