November 1-10, 2013
Artist Statement
For me, what it’s really about, is the transformation of paint, or metal, or ceramic or any other material really, into something else…something more than themselves, something aesthetic perhaps, or maybe emotional, but certainly something much more than a bit of paint or metal. This is easier to do when the subject is representational, because any subject that’s represented has meaning and associations. To get that reaction from an image which is abstract and non-representational is, as I say, a great deal more difficult, but at the same time a lot more satisfying.
The current collection is oil often with a great deal of medium. Each new layer of paint has a certain amount of transparency, so that the underlying layers are still visible. I use various scrapers, squeegies, rags and tracing paper to move the paint (rarely brushes). The gestures of the painting suggest an instant frozen in time, as though the painting was done in a matter of seconds with a few strokes. The truth of course is considerably more prosaic. Multiple layers, experimenting with various methods, and altering compositions, result in a painting technique which is as time intensive as anything I’ve ever done.
