My work is primarily an exploration of a particular physical phenomenon. Over 35 years ago I came across some materials with very unique properties; polarizing filter and clear cellulose. Neither has color, but the cellophane that I use, cut and layered between polarizing filters, can produce a whole palette of brilliant and subtle colors. I coined the name Polage art to describe what I think of as a completely new medium.

From the first moment that I experienced this phenomenon, I have been driven to explore all of its expressive possibilities which seem remarkably diverse and endless. Working with these materials is both sensuous and intellectually challenging. Although I manipulate the colors empirically, I think about the fundamental mystery of light and have become more awed by the quantum physics that make Polage work.

I have pushed the medium of Polage art in several different directions. In some cases, the most important quality is the interaction with the viewer. (The viewer must take some action in order to "discover" an image.) In others, I utilize some other inherent behavior of polarized light, such as the ability of a surface reflection on water, glass or polished stone to reveal an image otherwise invisible.

The work in "Natural Progressions" exploits the capacity of the colors to change. It represents a series of explorations of Nature through the lens of these materials. How we see the world around us depends on the medium of communication that we use to describe it. Paint, spoken word, sculpture, photography, video, dance, music -- each interprets the world differently. The characteristics of each medium shapes and emphasizes particular aspects of experience.

In these works, I have used Polage to focus on the impression of constant change. A still photograph, although we have come to think of it as one of the highest expressions of "real," is most definitely abstract. There is no way to chop off a little piece of the flow of experience, except with the shutter of a camera. My Polages in this show are also abstract, but in a different way. I try to focus on the flow of experience rather than on one static instant. It is inescapable that, in any approach to describing the world, the medium is a large part of the message.

I have focused on exploring this particular medium almost exclusively for most of my active adult life. I came upon the phenomenon as a young art student and decided almost immediately that it had the potential to say many of the things that I felt were true about life.

Life is mysterious. Life is not static. We each see life differently. Our technological environment shapes Life.

I seized on the potential use of these materials to make art for another reason too: the time was the mid 60’s and in my art classes at Indiana University, we were being taught abstract expressionism. Get your whole body involved in manipulating paint! It was active, exciting, exploratory, but left me wondering about the meaning of the final product. I had fun producing it, but could the viewer really understand or experience it in the same way? We were taught subject matter was taboo. Drawing or painting anything figurative or narrative was passé. And yet I felt a definite need to use those traditional approaches in my art-making.

It was in this context that I first encountered the polarizer and cellophane phenomenon. I decided that by employing a new material I could reinvent figurative art for myself.

That is another aspect of my exploration of Polage: the refinement of figurative expression and technique using these materials.

Sometimes a medium becomes so familiar that we can no longer see how it is shaping our view of the world. My hope is that through the presentation of a new medium, I will enable people to see in new ways.

Austine Wood Comarow