I Really Want to Use is an original mixed-media artwork created in 2021 as part of my Lotus Project. The piece emerged after the emotional rupture of a deeply significant relationship and during a period of reevaluating love, trust, intimacy, and understanding.
The work reflects the disorientation that follows when a relationship once believed to be safe or enduring becomes unfamiliar. Memories, promises, and assumptions are called into question, leaving behind the difficult task of separating what was real from what was hoped for or misunderstood.
The title, I Really Want to Use, suggests an unfinished thought and unresolved desire. It holds the tension between reaching for something familiar and recognizing that it may no longer be safe, available, or true. Its incompleteness mirrors the search for meaning after trust and communication have broken down.
Artist: Erin McGrath Rieke
Title: I Really Want to Use
Year Created: 2021
Medium: Mixed Media
Image Size: 8×10
Frame Size: 16×20×2
Style: Contemporary Abstract / Expressive Mixed Media
Subject: Emotional rupture, love, trust, grief, intimacy, uncertainty, psychological abstraction
Series: Lotus Project
Original Artwork: One-of-a-kind
I Really Want to Use explores the aftermath of a relationship fractured by disappointment, misunderstanding, and lost trust. It considers what happens when love remains emotionally present after the structure that contained it has collapsed.
As part of the Lotus Project, the piece examines transformation that begins in emotional difficulty. The lotus represents emergence through loss, confusion, and self-recognition. Growth does not erase the experience. It develops through confronting what can no longer be ignored.
The work also considers how relational loss can change the meaning of words such as love, loyalty, honesty, and trust. As with much of my work, it leaves room for viewers to bring their own experiences of attachment, betrayal, longing, grief, and the reconstruction of trust.
My abstract and mixed-media paintings explore mental health, trauma, relationships, identity, healing, and resilience through intuitive mark-making, layered surfaces, expressive movement, and emotionally charged materials. Each piece is created entirely by hand as a unique original.
Collectors interested in contemporary abstract art, emotionally driven mixed media, relationship narratives, or artwork exploring love, trust, grief, and transformation may connect with other pieces from the Lotus Project by Erin McGrath Rieke.
I Really Want to Use is an original mixed-media artwork created in 2021 as part of my Lotus Project. The piece emerged after the emotional rupture of a deeply significant relationship and during a period of reevaluating love, trust, intimacy, and understanding.
The work reflects the disorientation that follows when a relationship once believed to be safe or enduring becomes unfamiliar. Memories, promises, and assumptions are called into question, leaving behind the difficult task of separating what was real from what was hoped for or misunderstood.
The title, I Really Want to Use, suggests an unfinished thought and unresolved desire. It holds the tension between reaching for something familiar and recognizing that it may no longer be safe, available, or true. Its incompleteness mirrors the search for meaning after trust and communication have broken down.
Artist: Erin McGrath Rieke
Title: I Really Want to Use
Year Created: 2021
Medium: Mixed Media
Image Size: 8×10
Frame Size: 16×20×2
Style: Contemporary Abstract / Expressive Mixed Media
Subject: Emotional rupture, love, trust, grief, intimacy, uncertainty, psychological abstraction
Series: Lotus Project
Original Artwork: One-of-a-kind
I Really Want to Use explores the aftermath of a relationship fractured by disappointment, misunderstanding, and lost trust. It considers what happens when love remains emotionally present after the structure that contained it has collapsed.
As part of the Lotus Project, the piece examines transformation that begins in emotional difficulty. The lotus represents emergence through loss, confusion, and self-recognition. Growth does not erase the experience. It develops through confronting what can no longer be ignored.
The work also considers how relational loss can change the meaning of words such as love, loyalty, honesty, and trust. As with much of my work, it leaves room for viewers to bring their own experiences of attachment, betrayal, longing, grief, and the reconstruction of trust.
My abstract and mixed-media paintings explore mental health, trauma, relationships, identity, healing, and resilience through intuitive mark-making, layered surfaces, expressive movement, and emotionally charged materials. Each piece is created entirely by hand as a unique original.
Collectors interested in contemporary abstract art, emotionally driven mixed media, relationship narratives, or artwork exploring love, trust, grief, and transformation may connect with other pieces from the Lotus Project by Erin McGrath Rieke.
