Apophenia 

Curator: Looking at Cassidy Rae Marietta’s “Apophenia,” I’m immediately caught by the vibrant, almost psychedelic energy of the piece. It's like a garden exploded with color and pattern. What's your first impression? Editor: My eyes don't quite know where to land! It’s maximalist, almost aggressively so. All that vibrant colour—a real sensory experience. But, beyond the initial visual buzz, I wonder about its place in art history. Curator: Well, although undated, this mixed media painting flirts with the Pattern and Decoration movement, while feeling very contemporary. The figure, adorned with flora and paisley-like patterns, really pulls you in, doesn’t she? It is a fantasy portrait where all things seem connected. The repetition and layering is so interesting... It almost seems to me to echo patterns we see in nature. Editor: Yes, and that connection to "nature" is interesting. Pattern and Decoration sought to challenge the established art world by embracing the decorative, the domestic, and traditions often dismissed as "feminine." Does this piece succeed in that? I wonder how the explicit sexuality plays into this reclamation. Curator: Ooh, "explicit sexuality," now you’re speaking my language! The pose is inviting but, the layering of pattern creates a shield of artifice, making the sensual quite stylized. I read the figure as both powerful and vulnerable. And how interesting, visually and perhaps conceptually, that patterns in nature can have an erotic context. Editor: Absolutely. The pattern itself becomes a sort of visual language. And seeing it connected with a theme like eroticism perhaps forces a reassessment of the kind of art historical power associated with portraiture. There is nothing classical here; instead there’s something closer to personal ritual. Curator: It makes me think about seeing connections where maybe they don’t inherently exist. That search for patterns is such a human thing, and this piece kind of visually embodies that. And the idea of personal ritual certainly resonates! Each time I look, I notice a new detail. Editor: Exactly. Marietta presents pattern recognition – apophenia itself – as a form of making meaning, a very creative act of self-expression against a backdrop of social convention. What a journey. Curator: It’s been delightful viewing the ways we organize, celebrate, hide behind, and are awakened through such art. Editor: Indeed, I appreciate the provocation this piece has offered me today to challenge our visual vocabulary!