Over the last year Ritchie has faced the loss of a career, friendships and relationships. In Closure Ritchie has taken the process of mourning and translated it into twenty paintings that have allowed her to experience, process and contemplate the emotions encompassed by grief. She spent many months documenting how she felt with photos, notes and songs. Keeping a journal with her in hopes she would create something positive out of all the negativity she endured.
The darkness that surrounds loss can be all consuming, so instead of darkness she chose to express the process in an explosion of vibrancy. Shay Ritchie’s abstract paintings portray the five stages of grief through colour and vivid mark making. Each colour represents a different stage of grieving; denial (purple), anger (red), bargaining (green), depression (blue) and acceptance (yellow). The titles of each piece are excerpts of conversations creating a narrative for the work that can be read from top to bottom.
Hopefully through this chromatic display the viewer can understand that loss, grieving, and closure don’t always have to be seen as a negative experience. Just a part of life.
Look for the rainbows.
Closure will be on view in the Members’ Gallery from May 21 to June 12.
Shay Ritchie is a mixed media abstract painter that draws inspiration from botanicals, colour theory and natural patterns. Ritchie graduated from UBC Okanagan with a Bachelor of Visual Arts and a minor in Art History and Visual Culture. Ritchie was the president of the Visual Arts Course Union (VACU) for two years during her undergraduate and was a board member for the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art for six years.
Ritchie has spent the last two years creating works that reflect emotions associated with colour and colour theory. Her work pulls inspiration from the circular forms of tree rings, fingerprints, water ripples and waves.
See more of Shay Ritchie’s art on her Instagram.