about the artist

With an eye toward history, both in terms of technique and style, Pauline Ziegen creates layered modernist mythologies of the American West landscape.-Santa Fe Reporter 2005

A longtime fan of Eastern philosophies, Pauline Ziegen is drawn to the perceptual elements and materials of Chinese and Japanese art.. “I love the way the artists convey the illusion of space using minimalist drawing techniques, and I find the gold leaf in Japanese folding screens both traditional and austerely modern. Their craftsmanship and the integration of art and life in Eastern philosophies have inspired my work ever since,” she says.Ziegen’s innate sense of harmony and balance results in horizons that are soothing, calm, and orderly. To keep them from being too static, she introduces subtle yet energizing lines that breaks her impeccable surfaces with small “dots.” The lines become provocateurs that grab the eye asking it to bridge opposites: the upper and lower registers, heaven and earth, the inner and outer worlds, being and non-being, and perhaps just as importantly, the landscape as perception and painted object.Saying more with less is at the heart of Ziegen’s approach. “I want to create haikus rather than sonnets,” she says.

~ Susan H. McGarry