Steven R Hoover

Color interaction and basic geometric forms are the primary instruments used to create the illusion of space in my paintings. My exploration of color based on the theories of Josef Albers and Wassily Kandinsky is essential to my process in generating spatial tension. Josef Albers wrote, "In order to use color successfully, one must recognize that color deceives constantly." With the idea that my paintings change with the introduction of every new color, they need to be constantly reinterpreted throughout the process. As a result of this, my final images are never predetermined; they are the outcome of improvisational control and the search for perfect balance. Whether my options develop from spontaneous marks or conscious arrangements of geometric forms and color usage, the meandering logic that exists within each painting generates paradoxical settings demonstrating that our visual perception cannot always be trusted. The contradictory assortment of illogical perspective, flat shapes, volume and voids produce a series of passages that seem to change as the eye is guided through the composition with a sense that there is reason, yet the answers are never revealed.

2011 MFA NIU
2006 BFA UW-Oshkosh,