The ten acrylic on raw canvas paintings included in ADAPTATIONS follow Mia Farrington’s long-time, meticulous examination of the relationship of form and color. For the artist, this relationship is a metaphor for human relationships. How do we reflect ourselves, and each other, through color and shape? How do conversation and emotions connect to visual form and experience? In this series, Farrington’s particular focus is the multiplicity of ways that women must change or conceal their true selves to adapt, conform, and survive. Gradual, seemingly gentle alterations in form and hue across the paintings reflect how women alter their energy, chameleon-like, in order to feel safe and accepted in certain situations. Farrington describes each painting as representing the different hues of a woman–from her truest, most vibrant form and energy to different, less intense, degrees of saturation and energy.
“For this series, my subject is why we, as women, are often required to adapt who we are in order to feel safe, be seen, be loved, find achievement. When I look at these paintings, the colors are speaking phrases that I and so many other women have heard for so long. Programming that is so deeply rooted in us to question our true selves so much of the time.”—Mia Farrington
At a distance, Farrington’s paintings appear as contemporary successors to the history of hard-edged abstraction, crisp and perfect. But imperfection as a form of beauty is a recurring theme in the artist’s work. On examination, we see that Farrington permits–even encourages–drips, canvas slubs, brush hairs. The artist describes these “errors” as a way to create intimacy between herself and us as viewer.
About the Artist
Mia Farrington (born 1979, Rutland, Vermont) lives and works in Portland, Oregon. She received a BA in Studio Art with a concentration in Painting, and a minor in Art History, from the University of Vermont in 2004. Farrington’s work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at Hashimoto Contemporary (New York), Stephanie Chefas Projects (Portland), Furbish Studio (Raleigh), and other venues. Her work is in numerous public and commercial projects including the Alexis and Andra hotels (Seattle) and in private collections throughout the United States.