PATRICIA FABRICANT

My work has completely changed since the 2016 election. I have gone from painting small, decorative abstractions to making self-portraits, which I then shred and weave together. I began by weaving together my abstract paintings to create original works, often two-sided. I felt a need to destroy what I had made in order to reimagine it in a new way. I was simultaneously making self-portraits, some with exaggerated facial expressions, some nude. I started weaving the self-portraits together as a way of abstracting my gaze and attempting to reveal a variegated expression of my inner life. The original portraits are generally quite straightforward but the nature of the weaving allows for unexpectedly powerful emotions to emerge. This is a time of deep introspection for me, and for my country, and this is my way of confronting myself and trying to assert my place in the world. They are direct and confrontational. Showing more of my body provides further intimacy. While my materials (paper, gouache) come from a painting tradition, I use traditional crafting methods to create the work. It is all done by hand, and I embrace imperfection. I am pushing myself to work larger, go deeper and bolder.


Patricia Fabricant is a painter and award-winning book designer, born in New York City. She received her BA from Wesleyan University and studied painting in Florence Italy, through the Syracuse University program. Her abstract paintings have been exhibited widely at such galleries as David & Schweitzer Contemporary, Schema Projects, Sideshow and Front Room, in Brooklyn, Morgan Lehman and the National Arts Club in New York and Geoffrey Young Gallery and No. 6 Depot, in the Berkshires. She recently began working figuratively both on a series of political pieces, called Paper Dolls, and on her most recent self-portraits, which she began in response to the recent election and its aftermath. She lives in Brooklyn and shares a studio at the Elizabeth Foundation, in Manhattan.