Rustic #2 Painting

I became an abstract artist because I wanted to explore relationships between shapes and create a world as I saw it. I like the formality of a shape that I can apply to a flat surface because there is never a difficulty in seeing the boundaries of that shape. It is a different surface from the shape or canvas beneath it. And because I can, I paint the shapes different colors to further delineate them from the other shapes or the surface of the work. I have always found scientific research about the universe fascinating, so in some of the works, I put my shapes in their own universe.In college, I studied the elements of art. Art had to have these elements or it wasn’t art. Then one of my professors astounded me when he said there is no Art (capital A intended), only artists. My professor’s pronouncement opened up a new way of looking at things. It allowed me the space to create art as I know it. I tend to create works that are part of a series. One of my current series is called Celebrations. It’s full of bright colors and shapes that appear to float in space or fly. Because the world has been in such a dark place of late, I wanted to create art that could dispel the darkness around me. To do that I had to “think out of the box,” which is why I often make art that isn’t bound by traditional rectangle or square surfaces. Another series I am working on is called Harmony. It portrays the rhythm of life that goes on after we celebrate. It's the sense of harmony we feel when we are in sync with our surroundings. Both the Celebrations and the Harmony series are 3-dimensional painted wall constructions. Other current painting series are the Prism series and the Abstract Expressionist series.