I am very drawn to Expressionism, which was an artistic movement at beginning of the 1900s. I like the idea of using art to convey emotion. Emotional art does not need to show someone crying to demonstrate sadness, or a sunny meadow to evoke peace. Emotions such as sadness, anger, peace, and love can be demonstrated through color, design, brush stokes and the way that the viewers’ eyes are guided through the artwork. Where some artwork is like a story, Expressionism, and Abstract Expressionism are like poetry. They don’t necessarily tell the story in a straightforward manner, instead these types of art, like poetry, capture the essence of ideas and present for personal interpretation.
Out of all of the representative artists, I like Franz Marc the most. I believe that his work exemplified the idea of using unrealistic form and color to portray realistic emotions and the building blocks of vision. I also like that Marc focused so much of his work on animals because he believed that the animals were spiritually important. He was really able to use color and form to portray the spiritual essence he felt in the animals.
I also tend to gravitate towards the Abstract Expressionism movement. This is because I am facinated with the building block of art. I enjoy seeing art desconstructed into base forms and colors. Abstract Expressionism takes the Expressionism ideas of color and form representing and idea or emotion and, often, removes recognizable form. I really enjoy the Abstract Expressionism artwork of Adolph Gottlieb because he exemplifies the idea of representational abstract form.
My Arist Statement
My work is representative of universal ideas that everyone encounters as they move through life. I like to take a universal idea and create an artistic representation of that can evoke the universal feeling in the viewer, sometimes without the viewer completely understanding why they are feeling a certain way. Universal feelings and experiences are important to me as an artist because I feel they are both a way to reach everyone and a way to tie people together. In a world that is sometimes fragmented by ignorance, racism, war, and misunderstanding, I think that reminders that everyone is sharing the human experience are vitally important.
Some of my favorite ideas to explore include mythology, religion, personal expression, freedom of choice, and the inevitably of death. Lately, my work has been revolving around both death and freedom of choice. While we have no choice in birth or death, virtually every moment in between is governed by freedom of choice. There are two types of mistakes in this world, mistakes that are a result of other’s choices, and mistakes that are our own faults. This second type of mistake is the one that causes the most personal strife, and it is also what I am currently exploring with my work. Who hasn’t had the feeling of self-anger and remorse when we are going through a hard time with no one else to blame but ourselves. Blaming others is almost easier. On the other hand, joy, peace and beauty can also be a result of persona choices, but we do not often give ourselves credit for these positive outcomes. Using form, and through color choices, I have used concrete images to explore the abstract ideas of the consequences of personal choice, both positive and negative.
