Season of the Surreal by Betsy Youngquist

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Betsy Youngquist

Her figures play within a fantasia of the imaginative and the peculiar, which continuously question our senses. Her pieces embody interesting juxtaposition; a rabbit body combined with a doll face, or an octopus figure with doll eyes and a mouth. The structures work to bring different narratives together in order to enrich the work and also the viewer’s experience. All of my work belongs in the same world. A world where we are “off” on the surface, judged perhaps, yet underneath we are pure gold. I know I am making a friend when I make a creature. I start with the eyes, getting to know them, and then they show me what they want to become, says Youngquist.

Her exploratory nature is what grabbed the attention of Patina curators, Allison and Ivan Barnett. On a trip to New Orleans the couple came upon her sculptures unexpectedly in the French Quarter. Enamored with the detail and eccentricity, they considered showing her work in an exhibition. Upon making the offer, Youngquist readily accepted.

Surrealism, the term coined by writer Andre Breton in his Manifesto du Surrealism is based on a belief in the superior reality. Much like the significant movement of the early 1920s and 30s, Youngquist’s Season of the Surreal presents to us a divergent reverie and asks the viewer to evaluate and reassess their own inspirations and understanding of art and life. Youngquist adds, Being a surrealist helps me explore and dance in the energy of the interconnectedness of all things. Somehow we are all a continuum that transcends time and space. That possibility is reinforced through the creative endeavor.


About Betsy Youngquist:
1965 born in Rockford, IL. At a young age, Youngquist was introduced to the Northwest United States and Western Canada, introducing her to First Nations, American Indian and Intuit artwork and people. Her early encounter in these areas influenced her love of beads and her respect for mythological and spiritual understandings through art. She admires cultures where art is a sacred creation and acts to bridge the spiritual with the mundane. Supernatural experiences heavily influence the subjects in Youngquist’s art. She continues to explore the metaphysical through her work, believing, our bodies are the vehicle of interface between the physical and our spiritual source.