artist statement

Trudy Babchak

STATEMENT

The physicality of my painting is about gesture: the gesture of people and the gesture of paint. I love watching people and capturing their movements on canvas. Each twist and turn of their bodies represents a twist of my brush. While my hand paints with the brush, my mind paints with emotion.

I always have a story behind each painting. Sometimes the story is obvious and at other times it is discreet. The story is usually about human oppression and the rise of the spirit beyond it. Having been raised in a family of Holocaust survivors, I relate my personal experience to that of my family in the context of history. I have interpreted some of the events of that time in my paintings.

I often paint children in my art. They are the young survivors of the war. They were hidden among the masses in convents and in non-Jewish homes and are often shown in play or dance. These children are living their lives while waiting for the future with hope and innocence.