Artist Statement
Artists Statement
Painting
I see our lives as an amalgamation of marks made by others and our reaction to these marks. Colors and shapes that represent a particular moment of meeting or relationships that span some interval of time. My paintings are about the painting process, using a non-linier, non-referential theme. Each offers a moment analogous to cloud watching, infusing imagery, landscape and allowing the viewer to create their own interpretation.
My paintings are a series of imprints, indelible marks. Marks left by every interaction regardless of the duration or level of impact. Each has left some stain and aided in the developed of my tapestry, perhaps a small patch of color or the continuous ribbon of years that fades to a fine tip perhaps to begin again or cease completely
I use an arsenal of tools rather than brushes; the application of paint through a variety of methods is an essential aspect of the process. The tools have evolved as the paintings have; I strive to apply paint with no familiarity or knowledge of the response or textural aspects associated with each tool.
Every mark made shapes the human canvas, directs it, guides it, pushes it and alters it. A series of multiple relationships that transform in hue and intensity, shade and tone, dimension and direction through some designated time frame leaving an imprint.
Boy, that was really something Robert.
You know, I enjoy your blog.. your artwork AND your jewelry and that’s a lot. Now, I read your “Artists Statement” and I get a flashback to me getting yelled at by my 7th grade teacher, Mrs. Longo. She asked me if I knew what my problem was. I replied, “No”. She declared to me (and the rest of the class) that I “lacked seriousness of purpose.” Everybody laughed at me, but, I was struck dumb by not only the accuracy of her observation, but the fact that this had really never occurred to me before. I am a born Absurdist. So when I read things like your “Artist Statement” I just have to say to myself… “WoW.. That’s heavy.”
I’m 60 Robert. I live up against the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Been here 13 years. Originally from the NY Metro area. ALWAYS self employed. Never more than three days a week.
Again, I enjoy all your stuff
The whole “Artist Statement” issue to me is one one much like the girlfriend insisting it’s “Nice clothes”….not “Paint Clothes”…as I forget it matters…on a night out….there is some reason…yet I’m often at a loss to the need for the reason…I am repelled by the art talk of most statements and how the explanation often misses the intention…I suffer the fate of an existential/fatalist…so any statement…comment…idea…I produce…is some random event….with a somewhat built in…result…yet I’m at the place these days..that my work has far passed the need for me to qualify it…and I’d rather just paint and stack them up than get serious about where they go….or if they match someone’s couch or not…
Good for you Robert. Stack um up. The happiness is in the doing, the adventure, isn’t it? Other people are going to do one of two things.
1. “I want that, how much?”
2. “What is that supposed to mean?”
I’m an existential/absurdist… so, I get a kick out of just making up stupid shit. In the end, what isn’t art?
Are you familiar with the movie “The Horses Mouth” with Alec Guinness?