At first glance, Revelstoke artist Maria Medina’s latest works seem to hold a simple theme.
Whether the brightly colour canvas displays a vase of blooming red and yellow flowers, a bird perched with a fishing lure hanging from his beak or a profile of a woman presenting a bouquet of flowers, Medina’s work may give the impression of being a realist depiction at natural surroundings.
However, a closer look at nearly every canvas on display at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre will reveal a surreal stretching of the common world within the brightly brushed oil paintings.
A moment spent studying the flowers sitting in a vase will reveal 16 butterflies gathering about the canvas, while the bird with the fishing lure can be found to have perched itself atop a small watermelon.
Among the presented bouquet, six hummingbirds can be found hovering around the bundle.
These exaggerations, according to Medina, are what influenced the title of the exhibition that can be found spelled out phonetically on the southeast wall of the gallery—Hyperbole.
“They’re hyperbolic in colour and detail and they’re a bit of an exaggeration of what could possibly be,” says Medina of the exhibit, which is on display until June 21. “Obviously I’ve never held a bouquet of flowers with six humming birds there. That’s why it’s hyperbole — it’s an exaggeration of reality.”
Medina has roots in Revelstoke, having immigrated to the city from Portugal with her parents at a young age. After moving throughout North America, including time spent in Mexico, Texas and Alberta, Medina returned to Revelstoke where she currently lives and maintains a studio
As an artist, she’s worked in several medium, initially beginning in graphic design following a career in forestry. She later transitioned to sculptural metalwork and small object design, studying the discipline at the Kootenay School of the Arts in Nelson.
| (Nathan Kunz/Revelstoke Review) |
The switch from sculpting to painting, according to Medina, came from a simple starting place.
“I just wanted to work with colour,” explains Medina.
The paintings that make up Hyperbole hold a common thread in the bright colours that seem to pop off their canvases due in part to the depth Medina applies.
Her layered depictions, she says, likely came from previous experience.
“Sculpting probably informed this to a certain degree,” says Medina. “I think it’s because I came from working in three dimensions to two dimensions. But otherwise, they’re two relatively different medium.”
Medina says the style of her latest exhibition came naturally, though what and how she paints is in constant flux.
“I think it was just there. This is what comes out of me. This requires no effort—this is what I do,” Medina says of the current style of her works. “That’s what I just feel like painting. I’ve painted different things, this happens to be what I’m doing right now.”
To avoid pulling too much influence from one place or another, Medina says she avoids viewing other artists works, instead taking influence from renaissance and realist artists of past movements.
According to Medina, a single painting often takes around her around two months, with the entirety of Hyperbole taking numerous years to complete.
“You can’t really reach what I’ve done any other way,” says Medina. “Maybe somebody can, but certainly I can’t create what I’ve created any faster than that.”
While the painstaking detail of Medina’s work can occupy large time frame, she says she still enjoys the process more than anything else.
“Painting is like skiing, it doesn’t matter how you get down the hill, as long as you’re having fun,” says Medina. “I’m always relieved to finish something I’ve spent two months looking at, but I like the whole thing. Otherwise, why would you do it?”
@NathanKunz1
nathan.kunz@revelstokereview.com
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