"It is neither form nor ground that I address in my work, rather the tensions and dynamism between the two."
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Monroe, LA in 1975, Meredith Pardue is an acclaimed contemporary artist whose work is widely recognized for its sinuous compositions of abstract forms evocative of botanical and geological elements.
Upon earning a B.F.A. in Painting with an Art History minor from the Savannah College of Art + Design in 1998, Pardue traveled extensively across the U.S., drawing inspiration from the varied regions and coasts of the South, Southwest, Pacific Northwest, and Northeast, as well as France and the Caribbean.
After completing her M.F.A. in Painting in 2003 at Parsons School of Design in New York City, Pardue accepted a full-time faculty position at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, where she taught both studio and art history courses in the Department of Fine Arts. In 2006 she left the university to devote herself entirely to the cultivation of her work and the advancement of her fine art career, soon establishing representation in galleries throughout the U.S., London, Paris, and Singapore.
Today, Pardue’s work continues to gain critical acclaim and is collected globally in notable private and corporate collections including Baylor, Scott + White Children’s Hospital, BBVA Compass Bank, ExxonMobil Headquarters, Genstar Capital, J. Crew Corporate Headquarters, Marina Bay Sands Hotel + Casino, The Michael + Susan Dell Foundation, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Oceania Cruise Lines, Ritz Carlton, University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Savannah College of Art + Design, SCAD FASH Museum, and SCAD Hong Kong. Her work has been published in periodicals including Architectural Digest, Dwell, Modern Luxury Interiors, New American Paintings, and The Southern Review, and featured in productions of CBS Studios, CBS News Productions, Dreamworks, Echo Films, and FilmNation.
Pardue lives and works in Austin, TX.
ARTIST STATEMENT
"The forms in my work evoke botanical or geological elements, but these elements serve merely as a point of departure for the viewer to experience what is ultimately a visual record of an improvisational dialogue between a blank canvas and myself.
Disturbing a perfect, intact space—effectively creating conflict, and subsequently a need for resolution—I cycle through the opposing forces of chaos and order, alternating random actions of painting with controlled, deliberate mark-making. Repeating the processes of construction and destruction, an internal structure emerges and becomes an energetic framework of form and ground. Organic shapes positioned against pale or dark grounds that initially appear to be expanses of negative space, but these textured expanses are elevated layers of paint that reveal the history of the piece. It is neither form nor ground that I address in my work, rather the tensions and dynamism between the two.
The specific simplicities and complexities of the painting—the dispersion of light and dark pigments, covert and overt marks, delicate lines and bold shapes—comprise a visual language that characterizes the painting’s unique nuanced energetic expression.
I could say that I intimate a certain relationship between physical and spiritual space in my work, because in a sense that is true. Yet my approach to making a painting is not cerebral—it is intuitive and energetically fluid. My mind and body serve as a vehicle for transmuting universal creative energy into three-dimensional objects. Ultimately, I am most interested in extracting singular experiences—snapshots—from life’s infinite cycles of growth and decay, and in transforming the public, universal worlds of nature and human existence into sites of private knowledge."
Photo credit - Christopher Durst