Orhan Taylan

Painters can be evaluated and classified in various ways, but, as far as I am concerned, the most important distinction is between those who use their topic as a means for constructing a painting and those who use their paintings as a means for presenting a topic. It is not easy, in a single work, to create a structure for a painting which matches the human profoundness of its theme, puts flesh and bone on it. One notices immediately to what extent the painter has been freely playing with her topic and been really intimately expressing herself, something which would not be possible in works where the topic overwhelms the painting.

I believe that here, in Liz Strick’s painting, lies her secret of their vitality, which immediately captures one, but surprises because it cannot be fully comprehended at first glance.

When I talk about the artist intimately expressing herself in her paintings, I mean that she boldly exhibits her personality by condensing the emotions welling up from her heart into the theme, ignoring the guidance of what she should do according to received aesthetic wisdom. Her boldness allows her to express man’s different moods, but also comprises where appropriate, a kind of playfulness and the ability to joke in the language of painting. Just as being able to tell jokes is one of the measures of command of a foreign language, it is a sign of possession of a sound technique in art.

Liz Strick is very successful in establishing a rhythm with her spatula technique and it is interesting to notice how she achieves lyrical effects unexpected from such a hard and unforgiving tool. Perhaps this comes from the joy of having found the right technique to release the emotions pent up in her heart and waiting to be expressed. I think that Liz Strick’s amazing ability to express herself intimately, which I mentioned earlier, and the attendant uniqueness of her paintings, find their source in this joy.

Orhan Taylan | Artist February 1994