Urban Details

A few years ago, Colleen Attara was at an art festival and two young men stood looking at her work for several minutes. All the sudden one of them smiled and said, "I get it! It doesn’t match." She laughed and said, “you’re on to me!" Colleen's work is truly unique for a number of reasons. First, she often uses colors that would typically not be next to each other, but she feels that by repeating the colors over again and mixing in other hues it all comes together. Second, her painting on glass allows for error; if she does not like something, she can simply take it away with a sharp razor blade. Over the past few years, however, she has decided instead to push through any aspect of the painting she initially did not like and allow her creativity to guide her. Without fail, once the painting is completed, she is most pleased with the area she originally questioned. Third, Colleen enjoys using objects headed for the trash in her work. The Plexiglass is from a Trenton sign shop, the window panes are usually found on the side of the road, and most of the paint is "oops" paint from home improvement stores. You’ll see that next to the bright acrylic paint there will be paint drips on the window frames that have been there for decades, and dents in the wood. It is impossible to aim for perfection when the canvas you are painting is perfectly imperfect.


	Colleen Attara A few years ago, Colleen Attara was at an art festival and two young men stood looking at her work for several minutes. All the sudden one of them smiled and said, "I get it! It doesn’t match." She laughed and said, “you’re on to me!" Colleen's work is truly unique for a number of reasons. First, she often uses colors that would typically not be next to each other, but she feels that by repeating the colors over again and mixing in other hues it all comes together. Second, her painting on glass allows for error; if she does not like something, she can simply take it away with a sharp razor blade. Over the past few years, however, she has decided instead to push through any aspect of the painting she initially did not like and allow her creativity to guide her. Without fail, once the painting is completed, she is most pleased with the area she originally questioned. Third, Colleen enjoys using objects headed for the trash in her work. The Plexiglass is from a Trenton sign shop, the window panes are usually found on the side of the road, and most of the paint is "oops" paint from home improvement stores. You’ll see that next to the bright acrylic paint there will be paint drips on the window frames that have been there for decades, and dents in the wood. It is impossible to aim for perfection when the canvas you are painting is perfectly imperfect.