Courtney Heather's influences stem from being raised in the suburbs of southern California, an ideal setting that allures and deceives. She creates art inspired by the ideas that provoke such pleasure in being seduced by the familiar and the unknown. Similar to the effect music, novels, and cinema have, she is interested in this submission that causes a distraction from the mundane world and how it persuades us to replay them infinitely. To her, painting mirrors an illusion that is portrayed in mainstream media. When she paint, she is recreating an image; it's a copy of a copy of life. Her paintings are scene stills referenced from film/video footage, notable for their alluring concept by glamorizing the ordinary familiarities. With pleasures only lasting for so long, there is this desire to preserve that feeling that has possessed us. The still itself represents a paused moment and by capturing these specific scenes and painting them, it's reviving a temporary occurrence.
