[overview][description][artist]Emily Wood                         [Wood]See the artist'sportfoliob. 1969, Tacoma, WAUncommon ViewsIn her paintings, Emily Woodtransforms ordinary objects into acause for wonder by cleverlymanipulating perspective. Each objectshe paints is recognizable, butprovides a view of it that we haven�tseen before, and will probably neversee again in our daily lives. Shemight show a boat on a wide sea froma bird�s-eye perspective, or thefa�ade of a house tipped sideways atan precarious angle. "Working from anunusual perspective enlivens thescene with a lot of diagonals," Woodexplains. "It also gives me libertyto abstract the forms. People can�ttake them quite so literally. I enjoysurprising the viewers this way."Only the EssentialsPainted as simplified forms andlines, the boats and houses in Wood�swork still manage to convey a wealthof information. In her work, anarrangement of intersecting lines andcontours becomes a marina, and acombination of shadows defines atree. She often paints from photosshe has taken, paring down eachobject to its essential form.Extraneous details are eliminated infavor of a careful consideration ofshading and highlights. "I�m justdealing with lights and darks," sheexplains. "The viewer fills in therest with his or her eyes." Woodseems to have taken a cue for herspare compositions from EdwardHopper, an early 20th centuryAmerican realist painter who shecounts as an important influence.Urban IsolationWood depicts the objects and placeswhere people live and work, yet thehuman figure is conspicuously missingfrom her paintings. She focusesinstead on the industrial landscapeof Tacoma, Washington � theindustrial town where she grew up andstill lives. She consciously leavespeople out of her paintings of boatsor houses around Tacoma; for her,this omission signals the commonurban irony of being surrounded bypeople, yet feeling alone. "I find itinteresting that man could live in anenvironment with so many people, butstill feel isolated," she says. "Iuse perspective and color to amplifythis feeling in my work."