Artist Statement

A neo-romantic in a coarse age of externals, I use the pen and brush as extensions of the inner self, caught in a time and place. Events, environment and studies in philosophy and aesthetics have been dominant in provoking the subjective response. The landscape tradition of the Japanese taught the lesson of yojo, or resonance, the expressive power of simplicity, suggestion and nuance in poetic expression so that my images are radically reduced, with shape and color the bases of evocation. In addition the cacophonic complexity of the city environment provoked multi-evocative imagery, while experiences of rural life in various countries promoted the exploration of Satori, the notion of the interrelatedness of all things, and the aesthetic of Yugen, which derives from Noh, which is Zen drama. Yugen is the dark, hidden, mysterious inner nature of the self, especially woman, who is seen as unknowable through rational processes, glimpsed only through the artistic experience. This concept has been the core of my work for the past decade.

 Education

1969 PhD University of California, Berkeley and Los Angeles
1962 MFA Cranbrook Academy of Art
1961 BFA University of Utah

Bio

Noreen Larinde was born in Salt Lake City, where she received a B.F.A. in Painting and Printmaking from the University of Utah. Subsequently she studied at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where she received an M.F.A. in Painting and Printmaking. She traveled extensively, especially in Europe and Asia, and Japan and Italy in particular. This had a profound influence on her work. She then studied at the University of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles, receiving a Ph.D. in Art History.

She taught for CSU in five different campuses, and now in retirement, she paints, draws and produces photo essays in her studios in both Los Angeles and Italy. In California she is concerned with the impact of the environment on the psyche of woman. She uses the computer to design complex multifaceted images that provoke an emotional response rather than dictate a single interpretation. In Italy she paints the splendid vistas of Umbria, the well-preserved vineyards, orchards and olive groves in a paean to a land that has managed, through strict regulation to preserve the traditional land while modernizing.