As I walk in the studio, I am warmed by the glowing sun and heavy smell of oil paint. I settle in and look. I look at the light and then the work. What is the light quality? I sit with the light and watch how it moves and changes. Looking is listening in these moments. The more focus I have when looking, the more clarity and direction I obtain.
I am interested in light, space, and color relationships in the paradoxical industrial landscape. There is a sensitivity to and awareness of a place that should not exist in the natural world. Whether I am looking out the NJ transit train window at the wetlands on my way to Manhattan or riding my bike along the San Gabriel River to Seal Beach I am confronted by buzzing powerlines, factories and the heavy presence of industry. External factors such as pollution, artificial light and technology continuously effect the experience and perception of color. Industry dictates color psychology and emotional response. Constantly bombarded by blue light lit e-mails, teams’ messages and zoom meetings leaves an anxiety ridden emptiness that drives the search for something more.
The work done on the palette is paramount to what is witnessed in nature. Oil paint is heavily diluted creating a stain like application to the surface. Color comes before the suggestion of any other formal elements aside the existence of the object itself. I am interested in the space where two colors meet and a blur emerges. In the blur is a mystifying pull. There is a sense that something is there.
In some paintings bright bold color pushes itself outwards from the edges towards the viewer. The edge serves as a suggestive space, where color seeps back into and simultaneously pushes out from. The emergence of color is a divine experience, transcending a sensory experience. These paintings function beyond formal relationships and offer a space to consider an undefined force. Color is an energy that creates a presence. The paintings offer the viewer a contemplative space to look and feel. By allowing only the formal elements to exist and not disrupting the experience of color and material with narratives, symbols and figures a level of purity is attained.
The possibility of new color relationships in a space that not only allows the perception to exist but to luminously vibrate drives my return. In a world where there are instant solutions to problems, painting makes you look, think and work. There is a discipline in the return to the studio and in the labor of process that brings stability and growth. Living in a fast paced, high-pressure society bears a psychological and emotional weight that dissipates in the process of creating new space through color relationships. Painting serves as a place to refocus. What truly matters becomes precedent again. The result is the connection to the mysterious unknown through painting. While industry continues to taint the natural world, the beauty in the unnatural unveils itself creating a new alternate perception of light and space.