Abstraction is an instrument that can be utilized to strengthen one's intuition and express what is otherwise inexpressible. It exists untethered from the troubling and problematic roots of eurocentric art history.

Feeling drawn to the energetic possibilities of abstract painting, Naomi Clark explores how color can become responsive when placed side by side as shapes. 

Inspired by the book titled, ‘Reductionism in Art and Brain Science,’ by Eric R Kandel, Clark has come to understand how and where image processing happens in the brain. As it turns out, abstract images can not be interpreted in the primary visual cortex and are instead processed in an entirely different part of the brain–an area which we know little about. 

Clark believes that this visual activation strengthens an intuitive connection to the world around us. With the expansion of social media and digital interfacing as we live and work increasingly online, we each consume thousands of images a day. Are we building our brains in a limiting way by processing so many literal images, while neglecting the intuitive parts of our perception?

In order to respect one's own identity and the identity of others we have to see beyond what is ‘real’ or ‘realistic’ we have to strengthen our imaginations. We have to read the essence and feel the abstraction.

Naomi Clark is a multimedia artist splitting her time between Brooklyn, NY and Norwalk, CT. Clark received her BFA from University of Colorado at Boulder in 2004 and graduated with her MFA from Pratt Institute in 2008. She is one of the founders of Fort Makers, an artist collective and gallery.  Clark currently has two solo shows currently up in Brooklyn and Greenport NY. many large installation projects and murals including stage sets for MoMA PS1 and has shown both nationally and internationally.