Study in Green Statement

Color is Everything.

 And yet, it can never be pinned down. Color always escapes. It is never consistent and everchanging. This is the ephemeral quality of color.

Color localizes. As soon as we see a color it opens up a wellspring of our thoughts and emotions. Jung would call it our collective unconscious. It is the one element in art that has an unconscious response from our brain – we respond to the color before we can understand it cognitively recognizing the image or object. Language also has a poor time expressing it.

We may be able to see millions of colors, but tend to use only a few words to describe what we see and experience.

I’m interested at the spaces were edges meet and how the color interacts in those spaces. Not the hard edge of Albers, but the soft pliable space where they bleed and blend into one another that interests me. It’s a place where there are possibilities and where the medium has its say in my work. I can plan out an idea, but as soon as the paint hits the canvas it’s there where I can explore the nuances of color and color application.

 Color invites questions, but has few answers.  It’s in that process of questioning that color reveals itself. My work looks at color as a starting point, a point of departure.  Currently, I’m using color theory and investigations of color harmonies as a means of starting, giving the viewer a place to start and a means of entering the work. I want the viewer to feel the color and then consider its meaning and message.

 The pieces in this exhibition are studies, an investigation of the foliage outside of my studio. Color is never constant. The time of day and weather all influence and change the perceived color. The subject matter is the same foliage as seen from the same spot and vantage point. That is the constant within the work. Since the color is everchanging and makes the act of painting interesting and challenging.

 I’m not interested in depicting the leaves or the exact type of plants that make up the work. That would be too literal of an interpretation of the experience of the color. It would become to intellectualized and less meditative.