August 27 - October 1, 2022
From Craighead-Green Gallery:
“LESS, PLEASE is a recent body of work, produced for an upcoming exhibition in August, 2022 at the Craighead Green Gallery in Dallas, Texas.
Created under the influence of summer, from May through July, the paintings became more and more reflective of the the sensory overloads of the season. A thousand shades of green, long shadows and changing light, birdsong, soaring temperatures, and the smell of smoke from forest fires in New Mexico.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
It was a particularly focused and intense period of time in my studio. Early mornings and late nights, sometimes stormy or sweltering, I worked with
windows and doors open, preferring the sounds, and smells of my surroundings to that of my air conditioner. Acutely aware of climate change, I became sentimental for summers past, real or imagined. I isolated and insulated myself from the outside world – its news and noise and anxiety evoking distractions. I craved routine and “less” of everything but the work. I stopped listening to the radio, or even music. I didn’t miss it. I didn’t have room for it, with summer playing out around me. I tried to use what summer offered – it’s colors and textures and extremes. I tried to put paint in its place, to paint a series of sensory experiences, but came up short more often than not. The rhythm became as much a material as was paint.
With just my own company, several of the paintings began to take on the feeling of self-portraits, but in a vague, universal way. Some works contain hidden imagery of things I carry in my heart. This vaporous narrative was a slightly new direction in my art, but I decided to follow the works and let them come into being. The risk is worth taking. It’s the only way forward, letting go of control, but of course means painting never gets easier.
LESS, PLEASE became the fitting theme for the work.”
On View: August 27, 2022 | 12–5 pm
1011 Dragon Street
Dallas, 75207 TX
(214) 855-0779
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