becoming paint 2017
Archway Gallery, Houston TX, April 1 - May 4, 2017
Making art, for me, is a personal act of defiance. It is my rejection of the culture in which the practical and the religious formed restrictive rules, and beauty was suspect. While I would like to make a strong social statement that could make the world a better place, I'm not sure how to do this. Perhaps there is something vaguely political about going one's own way in the pursuit of the secular pleasures of paint.
For the past two years I've secluded myself in my studio, hiding out from reality, playing with paint; exploring the properties of both acrylic and oil paint. In the spirit of exploration, I've been experimenting with various viscosities and transparencies by dripping and pouring layers and layers of acrylic paint. While I do manipulate the paint, there is always a degree of chance to these paintings. I attempt to remain open to the results as I add layers of paint until I'm satisfied with the composition.
For the first time in almost four years, I've returned to oil painting. While I started with several small, tight paintings, I began new canvases using up the paint leftover. It was a game to use all the paint on the palette by the end of the day. The canvases I started in this manner are freer and the speed of the brush stroke is retained. Chance is a factor in the results. I'm always working on a number of paintings at one time and I often work on both acrylic and oil paintings during the same day.
Making art, for me, is a personal act of defiance. It is my rejection of the culture in which the practical and the religious formed restrictive rules, and beauty was suspect. While I would like to make a strong social statement that could make the world a better place, I'm not sure how to do this. Perhaps there is something vaguely political about going one's own way in the pursuit of the secular pleasures of paint.
For the past two years I've secluded myself in my studio, hiding out from reality, playing with paint; exploring the properties of both acrylic and oil paint. In the spirit of exploration, I've been experimenting with various viscosities and transparencies by dripping and pouring layers and layers of acrylic paint. While I do manipulate the paint, there is always a degree of chance to these paintings. I attempt to remain open to the results as I add layers of paint until I'm satisfied with the composition.
For the first time in almost four years, I've returned to oil painting. While I started with several small, tight paintings, I began new canvases using up the paint leftover. It was a game to use all the paint on the palette by the end of the day. The canvases I started in this manner are freer and the speed of the brush stroke is retained. Chance is a factor in the results. I'm always working on a number of paintings at one time and I often work on both acrylic and oil paintings during the same day.