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A few years ago I attended an artist’s talk at a painting show in Boulder. The artist was from New York and he painted thoughtful interiors – people sitting at tables, a woman on a bed, looking out a window – that sort of thing. They reminded me of mid-century American short stories. I liked them very much. But it’s what the artist said that stuck with me. He said he used to be an abstract painter but that after awhile he felt like he was repeating himself, repeating the same gesture, so he moved toward realism to keep things fresh.
This is something I think of often, especially during transition times when I’m starting a new body of work (as I am now). It begs the question “what is abstraction?†Is it painting based on the real? Or the imagination? Is it gesture? Paintings about paint? Painting about emotions? Paintings about composition or pattern?
To me the word “abstract†represents a continuum of painting ranging from the purely abstract (paintings about paint) to paintings that appear abstract but are actually inspired by looking at real things. I enjoy painting from both ends of the spectrum but believe my strongest work comes after sustained periods of looking out at the word, not looking in.
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