Elaine Florimonte
Elaine Florimonte is a painter currently living and working in the northern Virginia and Washington, DC metro area. She is a graduate of Radford University in Radford Virginia with a BS in Art Education and an MFA in Two Dimensional Media and has been teaching art in Fairfax County Public Schools since 1996. Elaine exhibits her work often in the northern Virginia and DC area. Many of her pieces hang in public and private collections in the United States and internationally. "I paint from fragments of my memory: the space between two people, a smooth sea, the sound of the wind, reflections of light, the fall of a shadow, and the quiet moments that often go unnoticed. These are the facets of nature that are impermanent, that are lost as time passes. My work is an exploration of the ephemeral and the enduring."
Artist Statement:
"I use collage in my work to add complication to the abstraction of broad brush strokes and scrawled line that present the foreground, middle ground, and background of each piece. This collage is often found materials—discarded maps, aged book pages, old sketches from my sketchbooks and more. I choose items that are sometimes overlooked but hold a value to me that I can’t always name. Through the subsequent application of layers of color, texture, and brushwork, I embrace chance by allowing these elements to interact. It's in these layers that new elements emerge; a journey, where the creative process guides the outcome, revealing unexpected compositions and connections."
