Always Close but Never Touching is a body of work involving both paintings and photographs. The paintings are 3 dimensional and comprised of models built on top of gesso board and surrounded by a mixture of galkd and oil paint. The photographs are images taken of models held in front of my camera against real skies, giving the illusion of real people and places. Some models are made with the express purpose of photographing while the paintings are built to function as their own autonomous works.

The inspiration for the scenes is drawn from my memories of the landscapes of Northern California and Western Washington. The specific details of the sites I am referencing have been transformed over time in my mind—influenced by subsequent observations, events, and occurrences. Alluding to different locations and experiences simultaneously, the works are of unknown, imagined places yet are also evocative of familiar situations.

The flooded and polluted landscapes are in transition, rendered temporarily useless and are lonely and isolated. There are often figures in the scenes depicting a snippet of a relationship, or a moment in a narrative. Many of the scenes represent forgotten places on the outskirts of town; places one would see out of a train window or speeding by on the freeway. The works evoke a sense of quiet helplessness; of being abandoned when you thought you would be cared for.

Vanessa Marsh
San Francisco, CA 2008