fiftyseven-9, 2025, collage/acrylic/oil on canvas, 48” x 48”

I’ve always felt like I have a heightened sense of colour. Even as a child, I was fascinated by colour combinations. My art is still an exploration of colour but also shape, texture, movement, and how the combination of all of these elements can create something special. I intentionally create images that are non-representational and titled in number sequences specifically for that reason. My paintings begin with a spontaneous and unstructured first layer of collage, drips, scribbles and spray paint. The next layer I add more depth and mark making. I then try to find the shapes within that. It all builds from that point and is almost never pre-planned, but all happens in the process. I want people to look at my work in its most basic, primal sense: colour, shape, and texture. How these elements are balanced evolves, but always remains true to my artistic aesthetic. My hope is that I can evoke an instinctual emotional response in the viewer, something that is felt rather than known, without necessarily knowing why.

Alayne Spafford, 2026