Earlier this month, faculty member Steven Meek gave a talk about his work in the Art Studio of John Cabot University. Sadly we couldn’t be there however Steven has kindly sent us through a summary of the evenings discussion points which we can share with you here…
I am pleased to start by showing my most recent competed work (pictured above).
Quattro Stagioni (103x103cm, mixed media). I feel this piece has put together the past 3 or 4 years of work, by going forward I will try to describe how I’ve arrived to this point.
My interest at the beginning of these sculpted paintings was in limiting the possibilities to see forms, composition, a narrative and as in this piece, the non-use of color. Negating useless distractions in order to slow down my own process of interpretation.
Paint itself has no past, no future, no element of time is a unique quality that paint holds. I ask myself how can paint possibly continue to say something new? For me to be contemporary is not to find a new way of painting, new style or movement but rather find a new reaction to our contemporary lives by letting it sift threw ourselves to our subconscious. How I interpret reality, things from everyday life, as a tool to create a visual language and by pushing the boundaries of pictorial space both physically and mentally.
Ideas about new paintings never come while actually working, when at my best, my eyes are reacting to the piece, the work is commanding me to do this or that to it and the decisions I make are related to the work at hand. I’ve notices that I have never sat and contemplated a work and tried to figure out why it’s not working. The painting may sit for weeks inside my studio and out of the corner of my eye it will nag me, something is not working as if it’s without life and I continue to let it sit there, let it suffer a bit longer.
I have noticed within me there is a moment that I hold dear and never ignore, that is the dream-sleepy state right after waking up in the morning when you can still remember easily your dreams and have your first thoughts, that moment I often have a clear idea about a painting that is not working or get a new idea for a new painting. The work feeds itself the struggle is inside myself to let them go in a direction that I would not go.
I rely more on my eyes than my thoughts, eyes can’t lie, misinform, or manipulate the visual world, after saying that it’s not my intention to make paintings that are just a configuration of sight. I’m going to list a few things that interest me; the middle ground between the recognizable and abstraction, working from memory vs observation, blurring the lines or boundaries between sculpture and painting. The use of media, paint, itself rather than transforming the media, letting the work dictate its course vs pragmatic control, the use of images without intent vs intentional use of images to convoke a desired reaction, being contradictory even rebellious vs complacent and logical, mixing it up, playing with it all.
My intent is to inflict a spark, internal silent, subtle energy within the work to give room for time and silence that holds the viewers attention as long as possible so it can reveal itself and unfold slowly.