Judith Roston Freilich

Lives and works in Chicago, IL, USA

Artist statement

Making art is simply giving a voice to what is part of me. It has no beginning or ending. I’ve always carried it with me—it’s part of my DNA. Each piece comes from inside me, and each leads continuously into the next one. It’s a lifelong, spontaneous evolution giving voice to whatever is within me at a given moment. These life experiences are reflected in my art in the life cycles of intuitive, unique organisms — organisms that reveal both devastating, excruciating, uncontrolled energy and overwhelming swells of serenely floating calm. This evolution goes as far back as when I walked in my father’s garden and then cooked its harvest with my family as the seasons changed. My work asks us to find unique places in our own journeys within ourselves. Not too long ago, my thoughts took a stunning turn when I visited the hot springs at Yellowstone National Park. There, it became overwhelmingly clear to me that all life on Earth—including gigantic trees, fungi, microscopic organisms, and even me—share life’s cycles and DNA. Life cycles reflected in the seasons have always given me a sense of stability—until life changed. Climate Change and COVID-19 have altered whatever order we knew in the world, damaging our sense of balance. What had kept me grounded—as an artist and as a person—was at risk. Now, it became clear that my new small graphite drawings were disconnected from their pristine paper. I began leaving the paper outside for a month so it would embody the drawings,...

Artwork