pat payne

Pat Payne's paintings in her CadFab exhibition, Selected Works from the Memory Hive, are spiritual and emotional portals, compositions that celebrate Black life, Afro-Caribbean archetypes of feminine power, rituals of spiritual enlightenment, and the optimism of Afro-Futurism.

Pat rarely begins a piece with a composition in mind, allowing the symbolism and simultaneous perspectives layered within each image to reveal focal points that shift depending on the viewer’s orientation to the artwork. Typically, she starts drawing with the surface oriented in one direction then turn it times while adding content to the composition until the image is complete. Each turn distorts scale, perspective, and proximity which allows for creative discoveries as the work progresses. Each vignette is a snapshot of a healing moment when all the stories are visible at the same time.

The four elements and deities revered by the First Nation and Afro-Caribbean elders of Pat's community reside on her canvasses as well (The Offering). Landscapes, wildlife, and architecture feature heavily in her artwork, although most of the images in the paintings, except for the Brooklyn Bridge are amalgams of all the places and creatures encountered in her travels (Sacred Geometry-Joshua Tree.)

Spirits of the past, present, and future, self-portraits (Smoke ‘Em), and images of powerful, God-like women (Yellow Yemaña), have always been at the center of Pat's art practice. A box of old photographs yielded a treasure trove of inspiration for a series of family portraits, including paintings of her parents (St. Lea, Sgt. George) and her uncles at a family reunion (Hechsher State Park.) Other portraits (Mina) illustrate the roots of ancestral trauma and Pat's connection to warrior spirits who overcame oppression.

Born in Brooklyn and now based in Los Angeles, Pat Payne's visual art has been exhibited in California’s Museum of Latin American Art, Avenue 50 Studio, Self-Help Graphics, Tonalli Studios, and GiganticArtSpace (GAS) in New York.

She hopes this artwork inspires you to examine your truth from all angles.