Sami Lynn Lange
Artist Statement

My work connects two areas of interest: my need for organizing, sorting and classifying with my desire to create invented environments. As an artist I work with the overall theme of "what does information look like?" I am interested in tying together my work in an academic library during the day with my work at my drafting table at night.  Both fields allow me to develop ideas, organize thoughts, ask questions and find solutions.  The connection between these two fields, the library and the studio, is the organization of information. 

The study of information can be scientific, analyzing different theories or groups of readings, lectures, writing and events. Or, it can concentrate on ordinary or exceptional everyday objects, patterns and design found in the man-made or natural world. By focusing on what information looks like to me, I create self-contained environments where objects and forms relate to one another.  I create new spaces, and unreal environments to express the different realities and organizations in my everyday life as well as the information I gather on a daily basis.

Through my use of bold colors, layers and meticulous mark making, the "invented environments" are often playful and bright evoking in the viewer different senses of place and absurdity.  I am interested in the actual making of work, in the decision process, in solving problems in the studio and in the "rules" and "constraints" I can place on myself as an artist.  My work is very detail oriented - working with the idea that information is complex with multiple perspectives and constant change.