Writing
My interest as a painter is in the origin of painting, in the history and development of techniques and forms, and in the unbroken historical continuity of painting as bodily practice. Painting is not primarily a theoretical or an intellectual discourse, it is primarily a bodily meditation on Being. That is, it is physical and sensual by its very Nature. This original nature existed long before Thought.
It has often been held that Painting is a narrative art, but this is just a conceit. Painting is only narrative if the viewer already knows the story, or if the story is being explained to the viewer, in words, at time of viewing. “Narrative Painting” can only illustrate something already known. Although painting has often been representational, her representations are not narratives. The experience represented in traditional painting is symbolic and/or allegorical experience, but painting is deeper than mere representation.
My interest as a painter is in the origin of painting in caves, in the history and development of techniques and forms, and in the unbroken historical continuity of painting as a bodily practice.
“Abstract art remains misunderstood by the majority of the viewing public. Most people, in fact, consider it meaningless.” These words are from Maurice Tuchman, one of the few commentators brave enough to state the obvious truth. There are many reasons for the failure of understanding which Tuchman describes, but I single out one. Our culture has assumed a form, call it “materialistic consumerism”, which is in fundamental conflict with the aims and revelations of Abstract painting. By way of explication, I am going to tell a story which is an outlandish affront to conventional art history.