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Painting - an emotive response
In art, the painting and the viewer create their own dialogue in reference to
content.
Attempting to explain ones artwork, can be a difficult task, in that the painter is asked to describe the work, which is made from a non-verbal language, and translate it into a verbal language. If I knew how to do that, then I would be a writer or a poet.
I am a painter, so I paint.
The best I can offer is to tell the viewer:
When I paint I am transferring on the canvas’s surface, my inner emotions/feelings.
Feelings are obviously very difficult to put into words, or we would not need psychoanalysis to help us find logical order. I paint, to get certain emotions in a form of order for myself. This is often not a very popular answer in the art world. People want all the answers, but that is not for me to do. At least, not in my case. The viewer can choose for them self what the image is, or is not.
Some of the work is very obvious, and I can explain it easily. The explanation is usually political. But others are more personal than political, and those are for the viewer to take away what they get from the painting, which often will be very different depending on the viewer and what their perspective on life is.
My work is often described as very sensual, boarding sexual. I feel that is right on target, as sensuality is what many of my paintings are based on. We go through life with the five senses, and these senses, combined with our life experiences, create emotive responses. I believe in multi-sensory experiences as well, and that is where my subjects often come from. It is instinctual. An instinctual sense of where forms belong, and how they respond to one another, creating an emotive response. Each person will experience the image differently.
When the work is viewed, it is not my intention to confront. Nor is it intended to make uncomfortable or comfort. It will all depend upon the viewer. Either reaction is fine, as long as a reaction occurs. If there is absolutely no feeling at all, then this is obviously of no interest to the viewer. There is a lot of art out there, and we all have to find what speaks to us as individuals. Some people are looking for something pretty to match their couch, while others want mental stimulation of one form or another. The intention of my work is to challenge the viewer to spend some time looking and watching to question what they see. Ultimately the work will tell them about themselves, if they are interested. What they see or find, will be what is within them, thus everyone will have a different dialogue with the painting. The images should bring up issues and questions within.
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