Signs of the Times – artist’s statement

ARTIST’S STATEMENT – NATASHA MAYERS
Signs of the times is a daily visual journal of intruding news images and events and feelings, my attempt to make sense (and nonsense) of the times in which we live. Individual painted signs and symbols are configured into larger asymmetric “signs” with compound meanings.

State of War – Artist’s Statement

STATE OF WAR
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Natasha Mayers

To express my sadness and frustration, outrage and uneasiness in these uncertain times, I am painting a world in chaos. I am making models of what the present looks and feels like to me and what the consequences of our actions are likely to be.

Iraqi Camouflage

Iraqi Camouflage was painted in response to the siege and military occupation of Fallujah* (Nov.2004). I wanted to use “real” images of the war to create camouflage whose patterns are usually used to conceal, rather than reveal the truth. I transformed these gouache paintings into upholstery fabric samples for armchair warmongers, Disruptive Patterns, Inc.’s Mesopotamian Collection: Endless War series.

Signs of the Times

ESSAY BY ROBERT SHETTERLY IN EXHIBIT ANNOUNCEMENT
Natasha Mayers: Signs of the Times

Artists, if they have any obligation to their culture, are obligated in times like these to tell the truth that strips away denial, to tell us what we need to know to lead honest lives, make moral choices, and advance the cause of hope in our communities. When politicians, corporations and the major media are complicit in hiding the truth, the burden on artists is immense.

How,then,shall I live?

Convocation Speech November 8, 2006
University of Southern Maine at Lewiston-Auburn

HOW, THEN, SHALL I LIVE? Natasha Mayers

Thank you, Robyn Holman and Rose Cleary, for inviting me to exhibit my work and speak at your convocation. I am deeply honored to be here, at
a college that fosters a sense of ethical and civic responsibility, where students are learning to investigate and address complex problems, and act as informed citizens.

Burqa series – artist statement

BURQA SERIES – Artist Statement
How to deal with the horror of 9/11? After a visit to Ground Zero I started drawing crowds with bodiless faces, and later, faceless bodies. Afghani women appear faceless under their burqas. Invisible to us, they are towers of strength like the world trade centers used to be.

Natasha Mayers Resume

Natasha Mayers
538 Townhouse Road, Whitefield, Maine 04353 Phone: 207-549-7516
mayersnatasha@gmail.com
Selected Solo Exhibitions:

2006 University of Maine at Lewiston-Auburn, Atrium, Signs of the Times
2005 University of Maine at Presque Isle, Bearing Witness
2003 Aucocisco Gallery, Portland, Maine, State of War map paintings
2001 Railroad Square, Waterville, Towards a regional road map of Maine
2000 Southern Ohio Museum, Portsmouth, Ohio, photographs of pole paintings
And road map paintings