That moment before I was born Painting

Find out more about me, my process and my vision at www.darrenengleman.com “Why do I paint?” “Why am I compelled to do this work?” “What am I wanting to say in these paintings?” "What questions need to be asked?" As a self-taught artist, these questions are constant companions in my creative process. My work explores the creative tension in representional paintings of familiar subjects, such as flowers or animals, that evolve into textural, geometric and symbol rich abstractions. This is what feeds my creative hunger and brings me back to my easel day after day. The poet Mary Oliver describes better than I can the compelling idea that draws me into each painting: “and how could anyone believe that anything in this world is only what it appears to be". Several characteristics that emerge regularly in my paintings point to my important questions and values. ●Layering translucent and semi-opaque acrylic weaves a geometric mosaic of rippling concentric circles, constellations of square windows that partially reveal past layers, abundant repetitive patterns and a web of intersecting lines visually sewing together the composition. This all suggests the vast, incomprehensible set of connections behind everything we experience, as John Muir said, “when we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” Most of these connections remain unknown to us. ●Negative space is given an equal role in composition in the understanding that things are as defined by what they are not as by what they are. ● Quotations, poetry, and obscure references merge with layers of collage, harvested relics from modern and vintage publications. Fragments of science, religion, history, art and archaeology abound. This stream of consciousness, which at times appears both random and deliberate, is collected evidence of the human need to ask questions and to believe in the answers(despite how often the answers change). It reflects the bewildering diversity of humans' attempts to understand the world. The use of language as a symbol with it's distinctly human aspects represents two things. First, the primary function of art is a communication channel. Second, these paintings, despite their first impression perhaps as nature paintings, are about us and our complex relationships: primarily to nature and the earth’s living environment, but also, to other people and to ourselves.