Self Portrait Painting

SKYE GWILLIAM- Unique depth of emotion conveyed through the line. An aversion to easy influence. The clear ability to copy and imitate if desired, but an equally clear commitment to pursue originality. A deliberate choice of departure from the norms and traditions of what “art” and “painting” are. Both classic and modern compositions - relating to the landscape/abstract division of work. This seems to correspond to where he is physically (France/Ojai/SB/small town/big city) and how his state of mind is mentally (lonesome/contemplative/emotional/”happy”) at the time each piece is created. Landscapes tend to signal a time of external relation to the world, the abstracts tend to signal a period of turning inward, more of a conceptual relationship having to do with a pure emotional state. Conceptually, and especially with respect to the subject-matter of the work, evidence of deep, penetrating thinking about the nature of humanity and of the place of humans in the world - especially with respect to their precariousness and feebleness as a species. Aesthetically, there are layers of influence stemming from the exploration of form and medium that has ensued over the last decade of work - from graffitti, to abstraction, to portraiture, to landscape. His work does not delineate for the viewer a clear path of tradition. It is a more difficult nut to crack. His is very much an eclectic way of approaching the history of painting. He is aware of historical approaches, and some of those elements, especially with respect to composition, are evident in the work, but he does not exhibit a need or desire for imitation. This approach and perspective makes for artwork that is not immediately “recognizable” as part of any tradition or school. A certain quality of desperation relating to existential dread, Beckett, etc. This is a leit motif Amor Fati - there is a lot of intuitive Schopenhauer/Nietzsche in the work. A latent solipsism, but also generally related to what an art historian would probably call a Northern European disposition. His light, both internally and externally, is of a darker tone and hue. This may explain the continual revisitation of the color blue in the work (Perhaps his color palette in general tends to the darker side of the spectrum, regardless of the color. Obviously this signals a darker disposition. Melancholic?). A recursive but honest repetition - and a genuine struggle with the repetition of the popular.