A Brief Interview with Artist Teresa Gostanza at the OmniHum Gallery
We often look at works of art in the gross sense, in other words, whether we like the subject or not and secondly the technique. But rarely do we ask the question, what is the artist's intention and what is before the painting.
International artist Gostanza, is more interested in the message than in her own input. Free of criticism, she works entirely intuitively, saying that those who understand will understand. She credits her dreams and her higher self and guides as her influence and humbly shy's from the attention as a visionary.
A periodic painter, she works in cycles, not touching her brushes until she is confident the messages she's to paint show themselves. I don't paint from mind, says Gostanza, that never satisfies me, I can only work from a place of love and detachment, a state of bliss. I asked her what the messages are in her work and she replied, I can speak about these paintings but words limit their potential, words can distort the meaning of things. and regardless of my intentions, the paintings are of their own, When you capture the essence or energy of a subject, often disregarding realism for direct expression, magic manifests. Often I don’t know the meaning of a painting until I have sat with it, sometimes weeks and even years. Says the artist.
Gostanza's paintings are feminine, motherly, and full of ambiance. In her earlier works, she paints her children in divine play. Her subjects float across space without time, inviting us to open our minds in the past, present and future. A visionary who channels ancient codes and prophetic messages, Gostanaza says, I don’t control what wants to manifest. Messengers are stubborn and command us to bring forth a truthful image, one that is outside of our minds. Once I kept trying to make a figure look like a woman, I struggled until I realized I had painted Christ, then I knew at that time it wasn't feminine energy I was attracting, it was Christ energy.
Teresa Gostan
za doesn't exhibit for attention and accolades, she is guided to give us messages, using images to express that which is beyond words.
From Oct 28-Dec 31 The Feminine Mystics is on exhibit at the OmnjHum Gallery, Taos New Mexico.