Artist: Valerie Crosswhite
What Stigmata?, 2006
Oil on canvas
30” x 30”

Although I have always been guided by them, overwhelmed or inspired by them, I do not use art as an outlet for raw unfiltered emotions. When I paint I maintain total control over the idea, process, and product. I think I am able to channel and transform my intensity more artfully in my artwork than I am able to in my life. With appropriate comedic distance and eloquence, I can translate and distill overpowering emotions into essential nuggets of the truth of the pain and the joy of being human. My paranoias, obsessions, "insights", while sometimes frustrating or disturbing to others, are better expressed in my paintings, which may still be unsettling, but possess new clarity and truth. They contain what we all feel but cannot necessarily say aloud, for this very reason—for fear of being viewed as crazy. Painting is a way for me to perfectly express what I cannot say, without the fear of being misunderstood.