Todd West

I'm an Arizona native, who grew up in the Phoenix area. I developed an interest for art at an early age and honed my skills with a BFA at Arizona State University and then further with an MFA at San Francisco Art Institute.

The processes I go through in the construction of a painting can be characterized as a search, both conceptually and in practice. Painting to me is a search which uses personal mythos and metaphors as the catalyst for the work and also as the point of departure.

My paintings begin with an idea, never concrete or fully resolved. Through the process of painting and an almost archeological act of discovery, the idea evolves along with the painting. I fluctuate between the construction and destruction of imagery. The choice of the marks and the chance of the marks created by the manipulation of the paint both serve to develop the imagery. How much conscious control I take and how much unconscious chaos I allow through the act of painting all coalesce into the finished result.

San Francisco Art Institute / Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Painting / 2000 – 2002

Arizona State University / Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Painting / Summa cum Laude / 1993 – 1997