Uncertain Narratives


Betty Carroll Fuller






Although I’ve always felt firmly rooted in abstract expressionism, my current interest is also in a more reductive abstraction, a search for simplicity and clarity in a complex world. I love simple forms, sensitive lines, layers of color, vague space. The fastidiousness of a more formal minimalism escapes me, it's not in my nature, my life is messy.  I like to see the hand of the artist and provoke personal narratives--tender moments, high anxieties, fragmented time, shifting realities--told with simplicity.  The inaccessible nature of working in an abstract way, letting the materials be part of the decision appeals to me.  The sturdiness and drama of charcoal tells one story, the delicate lines from a 9H pencil, oIls, so buttery and rich...tell others.  


The drawings tend to reflect what I think about:   family dynamics, conversations, the dichotomy of strength and tenderness. Seeking balance amid uncertainty.


Living on the Cape, the colors, geography, atmosphere the various tides, and weather contribute to my visual vocabulary. The Cape is home, a part of who I am, this allows my paintings to be just that: paintings.  I want to strip them of pretense, provide no exacting form. seeing where it all goes, failing often, working it out in my own way, no compromises.  Just painting.  Searching for the unknown, trying to be faithful to the work, hoping for a few good paintings.




 “What makes a painting work or not work is something I don’t understand:  its the mystical aspect of painting which is part of its power”  


Jacqueline Humphries, ARTnews Summer 2011