Artist Statement

Reflections of My Own Life

Artist Statement By: Whitney B. Fair

When I was younger living in Missouri all the repression I experienced led to anger, rebellion, and lashing out through my artwork. Being a homosexual in rural Missouri I had to hide myself in everyday life, so I explored and expressed who I was through art. The religious climate in Missouri was claustrophobic, and me being who I am led to many conflicts; I was lashing out through my art and being as offensive to them as they were to me. I also had issues regarding family, and their medical ailments; bacteria, disease, medical equipment, and pills were present in my early works because they were always around me while growing up.

Over time though, the experiences and realizations I have had allowed me to mature as an individual, and in my art. A refined language of images and themes has come to light, and continue throughout my work.  

Upon finishing the pieces “Night Has It’s Friends,” and “Lunar Escape” I realized that most of the pieces are a commentary which tells a story of my life. Those pieces tell the story of the loneliness that I feel and how I found ways to fill that loneliness. I had originally conceived the piece “Nexus” to be a commentary about the toxicity of the minds of the extremely religious, but when I looked at the piece I saw that my mind is also toxic. The pieces “Impact” and “Broken Yet Beautiful” are about my home in Joplin, Missouri that was ripped apart by a tornado a few months after I moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and contain recycled debris from the location where my husband and I first lived which is now a vacant lot.

The symbols I use have taken on different meanings, and are discussed in more subtle and personal ways. The statues which are symbols of innocence and purity have become symbols representing me and the innocence that I still cling to, and the innocence that I lost because of abuse. The concept of invasion is still present and is about something good being destroyed; again innocence lost. A new subject that I am dealing with is the loneliness I have always felt. The gilded cage represents being trapped and my loneliness, and those pieces discuss how I deal with that and find friends in unlikely places. Another way that I deal with my loneliness through art is my use of found objects; as I walk along the road I see bits of metal and debris being abandoned and want to give them a new home.

With much thought and consideration, and a few epiphanies along the way I have been led to the point I am at now. I am a more mature artist with a more concrete vision, and a well evolved language of symbols and themes that are visually interesting, thought provoking, and express more of the person who I am.

-Whitney B. Fair
 October 2012