ESTELLE L. ROBERGE

Lives and works in Magdalena, New Mexico, USA

Artist statement

In the recent collages, I explore visual ideas through surfaces created from photographs and papers developed in my studio. Some of the cut and torn images originate from the world around me, while others are deliberately staged and photographed to achieve a conceptual outcome. I draw inspiration from a range of surfaces—textiles, marbles, magazines, wilderness areas, and tree bark. For example, I might float color into a bath of Irish moss and then photograph the resulting surface. From these photographic prints and papers, I create new collages by combining textures, colors, and forms—juxtaposing them with visual intention. The resulting two-dimensional surface becomes an entirely new image, constructed from two, three, or four mediums: photography, collage, painting, and printmaking. My photographs of textiles, for instance, may remind me of bird feathers due to the airiness of folded fabric or the structure of the weave. I use these qualities to evoke ornithological references. A previously painted photographic surface might resemble a night sky, prompting me to use it in that context. One suggestion gives rise to another. Folds in textiles can take on figurative qualities—suggesting gesture, movement, spatial relationships, and a sense of ephemeral playfulness. I use these visual cues to further imply content and context, allowing the work to shift between abstraction, figuration and narrative.

Artwork