I Dreamed The River Painting

JAN MARET WILLMAN ~ Artist Statement The place of consciousness is steeped in realities that we cannot "see" in the traditional sense. My work is a gateway into the unknown; to the sight behind the human eye. In my life and art I strive to make a statement of the great intensity and significance that it is to be alive; to embody the contradictions of life in grace and joy for all itʼs opposing forces. I work to capture those shadow images of Life, the fleeting images from memories, dreams, ideas, and human experience that flash unborn in the mind; transforming them to an emotive surface on the canvas. My need to understand beauty that is beyond the scope of outward form compels my painting to things indescribable; to the uncontainable nature of life and all its upwelling. I draw strongly upon the freedom, spontaneity, openness and complexity of images not born out of the studio or the mind, but instead that are tied explicitly and intimately to the deeply naked state of the human as an emotive conduit. I paint from the gut, where the boundaries between chaos and order are blurred, and the plasticity of my expressionism gives voice to the many nuances of human emotion. Reflected and cultivated in my canvas are the ambiguities of life and its layers, and in that, the embrace of the contradictions inhabited by opposites. My creations are not for the faint of heart. The interplay of color and line gives voice to the subliminal terrain of the unconscious and the raw awareness of oneʼs own feelings as they are both visually stimulating and deeply profound in meaning. The viewer is provoked into an immediate and personal visceral response to each work; and interacting within the sensations felt in the complex layers and transitions of colors, textures and forms, is permitted the opening of the door to his imagination and the unlocking of new portals of perception. My work is a purposeful mix of mediums, where watercolor and fluid media become channels for the emotive force, while charcoal, pencil, acrylic and oil unite to ground the overall effect. As layer upon layer is added to the canvas, I create explosions of energy by working in opposites from heavy to light, from broad to thin, from color to nothingness, spreading from reckless spontaneity to controlled asymmetry.