Lillie Turinsky

My work exists as both paintings and sculptures of symbolic objects, figures, and textures placed within abstracted landscapes. These spaces capture feelings of preciousness and tender curiosity amidst chaos, stemming from memories and personal connections to nature and spirituality.

Growing up in a family with mixed religious backgrounds, I was surrounded by various artworks and artifacts considered sacred. Over time, I have extended this sense of reverence to almost everything I encounter. From observations of the outside world to personal experiences (both positive and negative), I hold and retain all information close to my heart. My work reflects an impulse to gather and preserve, suggesting an accumulation of knowledge and experience that becomes expressed and enacted as a kind of personal ritual. The imagery I use is often rooted in visuals that shaped my formative years.

My creative process begins with collecting: images, writings, and fragments from a wide range of sources that resonate with me are scrapbooked together as a loose guide for each artwork. Repetitive patterns and shapes, such as circles and spirals, reference cyclic motifs within nature and mystic rituals. Symmetrical, or near symmetrical, compositions relate to historical religious imagery, as well as ideas of perfection, balance, and hierarchy. Biomorphic forms and textures inspired by nature, specifically the ocean and marine life, introduce both chaos and beauty into the work. The combinations of these formal elements develop compositions and narratives that tumble through space and time, before settling into stillness, as if waiting to be discovered, like an ancient relic washed ashore.