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FIFTEEN YEARS

Liani Foster

Liani Foster does not like rules; consequently, he does not limit himself to one media. Foster continuously pushes the creativity and artistic boundaries of his work. His quest is to create change, not simply embrace it.1 The intricacies of his work stem from a continual regime of self-competition, one that manifested during his early years in elementary school. Though a good drawer, he had difficulty portraying people's noses; upon admiring the work of a fellow student, good with people's faces, specifically noses, a personal challenge was undertaken. With practice, Foster mastered noses and in time, his interest in the human body moved beyond the face. 

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As a young child, Foster filled sketchbooks with clothing designs for his mother and sisters to compliment and enhance the human form. Foster believes technology begs the question, "What if?" A self-taught seamster, the artist merges sewing and computer skills to create exciting and imaginative images. This process enhances rich colors, fuses complex and diverse forms and creates global expressions of life's intricacies. Drawing from urban experiences, the "idiomatic character(s)," the sounds and textures of life, and the vast array of exquisite beauties found in the subtlest jazz note to the loudest emboldened scream, he seeks to express the nuances of our shared "lifeworld."2

As a textile person, his evolution as an artist has progressed from silk screening and batiking to mixed media digital textile collages. Working with textiles allows him to create "total ambience" - the weight of the fabric, the texture of the weaves, the luxuriously comfortable feel of silk and the weightlessness of chiffon.3 The artist's creativity in working with textiles is expressed in the manipulation of fabrics by combining objects, some that are found, others of his conception, such as photographs, and transforming these into something new and cherished. The Mother's Day scarves he sets with precious family mementos exemplify such a transformation. By uniting objects which have individual life histories, Foster does not simply produce wearable fashion items or aesthetically pleasing wall tapestries, he enhances extant objects into a newly valued sphere with a new yet existing beginning.4

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"This everyday life is not static, as is often assumed, but possesses a dynamic character."

- Jan-Uwe Rogge

PARISH GALLERY 1991 to 2005  23