Ingrid Schraufstatter lives and works in San Diego.
Artist statement
Art to me has always meant to express my emotions in a way that cannot be easily captured by words, where the image conveys both reality and mystery. Growing up in Post -World War II Germany, the art that surrounded me, when I was young, German Expressionism and New Objectivity, have influenced me in the sense that art should point out the foibles of society, although I prefer subtle critique to elbow stabs. I find that a parched landscape, a haunted face, a dead tree, can say more than a protest poster.
After a childhood immersed in arts and crafts, real life (doctorate degree, post-doc, decades as a researcher) left me with little time to pursue my artistic endeavors, but gradually, and with the help of dear mentors, I have been able to sharpen my artistic skills and artistic expression is becoming more and more important to me.
I find it difficult to describe my style, because it comprises abstract, expressionist, and surrealist elements, and while I cherish a narrative, I want the subject to stay somewhat mysterious. Working primarily in oils and encaustics, -sometimes with the inclusion of collage elements, I like the blur juxtaposed with hard edges mirroring the concept of a concrete idea and its mystification.
