Anne Skok Art

Political

Unless you live in a bubble, life is politically, environmentally and tragically astounding these days. It can be rapid fire information chaos. I deal with it the best way I know how, I paint. Through fun and fierce imagery, my paintings reflect the political environment we witness and the emotions we are feeling all year. I hope my paintings draw you in to evoke reflection, conversation, and political action. These are strange times. Listen to your heart and do what you have to do. Painting has always been my vehicle for creating upbeat, whimsical images that carry joy to their newly adopted homes. But life has changed and I have to acknowledge that as a socially responsible artist. My paintings deal with our current chaos that continues to unfold everyday. But from the chaos heroes are born.

Stay informed, listen to your heart and be the hero inside you.

Whimsical & PORTRAITS

Some of the paintings represented are part of the  “Audition Series; A Psychic Reality”. They were produced after I accompanied my daughter to her first  musical audition.  It was scary.  She rocked the singing but was cut because she had no dance experience. Who knew? I was so guilt ridden for putting her in that position just to be rejected that I spent the next several months painting allegorical characters auditioning for talent shows. I like to use animals in these scenarios because they just don’t care about auditions.

I have also had an obsession with twin imagery after viewing photographer Diane Arbus’s famous twins.  Side by side, these little girls appeared to form a single being. I am a sister and I have two daughters making it is easy to observe  the duality typically associated with twins. In mythology one twin usually symbolizes everything good and useful, whereas the other one with everything bad or poorly done, and together they symbolize the balanced good and evil natures.  I cherish a photo of myself smoking from a pipe while my sister is quietly reading a book. Twin images can also symbolize inner contradictions, embodiment of the symmetry of all things in existence, unity of opposites. In the material world many things are a duality: light and darkness, good and evil, summer and winter, mountains and valleys, spirit (soul) and body…

Although my paintings appear to be innocent enough, my daughters have asked me, “Why do you paint dead people?” I never interpreted them in that way but it’s fine with me if you do. I think of the characters in my paintings as fully alive with a story to tell and a lot going on in their heads.