STATEMENT
I have been a student of Zen Buddhism, with a deep appreciation for Asian calligraphy, for some time now, and both of these disciplines have changed the way I approach my artwork.
In an effort to get at the essence of Zen, I turned to the teachings of the founder of the Soto Zen school, Eihei Dogen Zenji, and discovered a wealth of poetic and philosophical ideas, insights, and a mandate to look no further than wherever I happen to be right now.
Dogen’s tendency to present the traditional teachings of his own time in a manner that sometimes turned them upside down and sideways appealed to me. He saw that the true nature of reality as impermanent and interconnected manifests itself before our eyes in the “myriad things”. It’s our attempt to resist things as they are, or to mistake them as having a separate, permanent identity, that is the source of much suffering and confusion.
A friend recently surprised me by describing these works as landscapes, and maybe most of them are. I tend to start with fragments that somehow relate to the myriad things that Dogen refers to–perhaps a flower, or a page from a forgotten sketchbook, a glittering brushstroke, typography from a playbill, a upc code. Anything can be scanned.
Then, responding to what’s appearing and to what might be possible, the image is composed on-screen, collage-like, sometimes incorporating sixty or more layers. My knowledge of the world seems to be influenced by accumulated memories and conditioned reflexes that in turn influence my current sensory experience–whether I’ve invited them to or not. I’m finding that the immediacy and variability of my mostly-reliable Macintosh computer is a perfect tool for this visual investigation. The images are printed on archival paper, using an Epson printer with archival inks.
Biographical Highlights
Graduate of Loyola University and Governors’ State University (MA)
with various art-related courses at Webster University, St. Louis.
Carol Corey’s work has been shown throughout the St. Louis area, including solo exhibits at Forest Park Community College, Mary Institute Country Day School, United Missouri Bank, Left Bank Books, University City Public Library and Neve Shalom. Groups shows include Greenville College, Art St. Louis, the Foundry Art Centre, Xen Gallery, Chesterfield Arts and several corporate venues.
She has been active in the renovation and development of residential buildings in historic St. Louis neighborhoods and was the graphic designer for a Buddhist magazine, Rightview Quarterly, and its corresponding website,
rightviewonline.org. She currently provides graphic design services for many St. Louis non-profit groups and is active with Shinzo Zen Meditation Center and its prison outreach program, Inside Dharma.
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