“My paintings carry the spirit of childhood fear, fantasy and story-telling. I like thinking about the things lurking in the corner of our minds, the things that scare us or drive our behavior but that we push to the side,” said artist Victoria Hoyt.

She said her work is fantastical in the sense that it’s all made up. Hoyt doesn’t work from pictures or pop cultural references. She observes a lot, writes things down and makes sketches. Her inspiration comes from the every day.

Hoyt connects mental imagery as she works. She loves to read novels and is always pulling fragments from contemporary work into her art. Walking around her neighborhood also provides her with all sorts of ideas.

“I might see a pink lily growing out from a dark mess of green shrubbery and I might use the colors or the flower could become a small female monster creeping in the undergrowth. Or maybe I would juxtapose textures, the soft and light next to the cold and scratchy,” she said.

Putting together paintings is an intuitive process for Hoyt. She feels joy in not planning ahead. Hoyt explained it’s a little like creating poetry in that she is always searching out the right language to express feelings or ideas.

“My language is visual and comes in colors and forms instead of syllables and sounds,” said Hoyt.

She works primarily in water-based media, including acrylics, watercolor and gouache (opaque watercolor). Her exhibit at Cali Commons will feature about six pieces, the largest being 5 feet by 7 feet, the smallest being 18 inches by 24 inches. Hoyt said she will also have iPhone prints for sale.

All the pieces have figurative elements to them and all feature different perspectives. Some offer tiny people and others focus on extra large people. She knows people can feel big and small in different situations and wanted her work to reflect that idea.“My paintings are narrative-based in that the way they are put together makes up a story. But the abstraction and fragmentation leave a lot of room for interpretation. It’s interesting to hear people’s impressions of what’s happening in the work and compare that to what I was thinking about. I love conversing about the multiple meanings and different associations people find,” Hoyt said.

An artist’s reception for Victoria Hoyt takes place Friday, November 14th from 7-10 pm.  Hoyt’s show can also be viewed by appointment, or on Wednesday, November 12th and Wednesday, November 19th during our regular gallery hours from 5-8 pm.