Anita Dore - Rooted
Painting
The world is open to us, free to explore. We’re merely a few days away from any other place on earth. More than ever before we find ourselves traveling—for work, holidays, family gatherings. Does this increase in movement and change of scenery inhibit our connection to one particular place? Does our ability to roam, our tendency toward flux, impact our capacity to sustain “roots”? My suspicion is that our homes become less familiar as we spend more and more time away from them. Our sense of community, even identity, is challenged. The further we go from home, the more alien we can feel… and yet free of home’s encumbrances and expectations, the more ourselves we can be.
These paintings were inspired by many trips on planes, gazing out windows, in literally "rootless" moments. I've always been fascinated and charmed by the patterns, colors, and generic orderliness of landscapes seen from high above. What is it like down there on the ground? Who’s living there? Would I like it there? From above, I'm a harmless voyeur, imagining life “rooted” in that particular landscape, assuming those below feel connected to their little ordered squares of land. Or do they gaze up at the plane? Squint wistfully into the sunshine? Long for transience?
These paintings emerge from feelings of distant voyeurism, wonder, and flux.