The Topographical Paintings of Stefanie St.Germain

Stefanie mixes acrylic colors and spreads them out to dry on plastic sheets. When the paint is dry, she peels the layers off and stacks them so that a striated-in-profile cake of paint is created.

Stefanie cuts this cake into little pieces which loosely resemble miniature planks of wood. Some of these pieces are set aside to be used as they are. Others are double stacked, broken open or peeled apart to reveal interior layers of distinct color. The pieces are then arranged and glued onto a plywood panel. Note: some pieces are glued on so that their profile faces the viewer...

The result of this working method is that portions of the edges, interior and exterior of the paint cake are presented simultaneously on the picture's surface.

There are many layers to these works, so to speak. In a very literal sense, these works are “deconstructive”. Their creation is contingent upon breaking apart the whole and recombining the results to create a new entity. In another sense, these works operate within the Modernist tradition by presenting a purely abstract subject matter that is intimately connected to the paint out of which each work is made.

It can be argued that each Topography Painting, by virtue of presenting a picture plane that is composed of interior and exterior views, expands the working concept of what Cubism is.

These works measure a mere 6"x6" each. Yet, as a result of their bas-relief presence and uniqueness of conception, they maintain a presence on the gallery wall which often eclipses that of larger paintings.