You Have to Hit Rock Bottom is a set of new works reflecting Abrugena’s approach to painting: building on a visual language that tests areas of discomfort, experimentation, and starting over repeatedly.
“If you’ve felt the get – yourself – up when you hit rock bottom, you know that somewhere within that darkness your body propels you to move – the mind toughens and starts again. It’s more invigorating than any treasured memory of calm because it teaches you that pain can be wrestled with and sometimes it can also produce beauty. You even thank it once you got over it. These works are a result of a body resetting to motion where every act on canvas strives to solve something I have not done, processes I have not explored. It seems that I have to always start from zero to make something I like. Painting is much like a dance with the devil – it’s always yourself that you confront every time. But if you ride out the depths again and again, you’ll increase your power.”
