about painting

Painting is difficult for two reasons.

 

The first reason is the contradiction between surface and space. Painting is a two-dimensional medium, any figurative association, or reference to three-dimensional reality will bring up the problem of representing space on a flat surface which is inherent to painting.

 

The second reason is the difficulty presented by the natural material qualities of the paint. Paint is a liquid. Any liquid will tend to run and drip. It is a colored liquid. Any pure colors will tend to mix and blend, like cream in coffee. The chaotic quality of the paint reflects the laws of nature and the universe.

 

The work of the painter is to let the paint unfold its potential energy and still have it represent reality.

 

Art History has shown us the narrative possibilities of painting in Realism and also the opposite extreme, the total freedom of the paint in Abstraction.

 

The painters of our generation are called upon to synthesize these dialectical contradictions.

 

The raw energy of the material paint combined with the compelling power of the narrative.

 

That is the paradise of possibilities that painting opens.