Teresa Getty, Reminders of Memories I Never Had

Teresa Getty is an artist who primarily works in abstraction, generally from an interior space. Her new works mark a departure and an exceptional approach, examining narrative paintings through an abstract lens. The chosen narrative is the American scene as depicted by artists such as Reginald Marsh, Howard Heath and Thomas Hart Benton working with the New Deal for the Arts or Works Project Administration. Getty has approached this project in two distinct ways. In some instances she has distilled the work so that barely a trace of the original narrative is evident and uses the remnants as a point of departure. In other pieces she has allowed more direct references to the original work to remain, allowing a clearer yet still veiled glimpse into the past. By intermingling large brush marks from industrial tools with fine lines in silver point, Getty joins the past with her present, connecting her own memories that are triggered by the process while successfully absorbing the old work in to a new abstract narrative.