February 24, 2004
Colleen O'Rourke
Woman's lives and issues are humorously depicted in beaded paintings by Chicago artist, Colleen O'Rourke. Working with seed beads (available in a limited color palette), O'Rourke has created a series of frozen moments of conflict and reflections. Dishin the Dirt depicts a lively gossip scene of women friends. Cornered portrays a mother and young child backed into a place of no escape. Family Bed depicts a contented family, complete with dog, cat, parents and several children all piled into bed. Rooftop is a evening party of friends, drinking beer and jamming musicians.
O'Rourke's style is flattened and graphic. The bead medium, with its hard edged colors dos not allow for much surface modelling. These small works could perhaps bear a kinship to the Roman mosaics, where daily life remains frozen in time. In Pompeii, the dogs bite; in O'Rourke's world, are there lingering dangers, or just modern apathy?
image: The Gramma's Tea Party by Colleen O'Rourke
