Ann Chamberlin & Jo Didner Collaborations

Artist Statement

We each start a few paintings then trade them back and forth about 10 times until they are finished. This usually takes from several weeks to a whole year. Mostly we work on them together, sitting around, talking, grabbing work from one another and giving orders like “fix this, she needs a false beard,” or “put in some fire ant mounds quick.” Some pieces eat up our paint and ideas quietly from start to finish while others develop complicated plots and get working titles such as “Acting like terrorists in a James Bond movie,” and “Male Bonding & L.L. Bean in Tibet.” We also divvy up the pile of paintings and work on them separately in our own studios. To finish them, we get back together working in marathons on 10 or more paintings at a time. Each painting changes dramatically in the process. Sacrifices are made right and left. A woman in one painting kept changing her clothes, going from a beautiful “I Love Lucy” outfit to a Russian gymnast’s suit before winding up nude, holding a lemon yellow hanky.