Artist Statement
The traditional folk art and architecture of the Southwest are sources of inspiration for my current series of work. As an artist, I find certain shapes in architecture intriguing because they imply the human form, the human presence without expressly describing it. So while my work is essentially about people and the world around us, there is a visual tension in my compositions that pulls between the optimism of the human presence and a sense of loneliness that attends a pictorial environment that omits the human form.
The intensity of the New Mexico landscape reinforces this tension, as the mesas and mountainous vistas around us are more than a little suggestive of architectural contours. Like the landscape, Southwestern buildings also reflect and absorb the harsh contrasts of light and the alternating explosions of bright and subdued palettes of colors imbibed from the environment that surrounds them. Because of this I have found that retaining a sense of natural place to be a new and essential dimension in my work that is both welcome and fairly challenging.
Beyond the immediate concerns of subject matter, I am also mindful of the underlying impulses that fuel my desire to make art. There is great satisfaction that comes from wrestling with the interplay of physical structure and pictorial elements. Dimension, geometry, color and texture collaborate in my work to make a complete visual statement that extends off the wall and into the viewer’s physical space. When these elements are successfully brought together on wood and canvas, they can serve to communicate, to inspire deep emotional responses in the viewer. This process is an infusion of concept and technique.
I begin my paintings by visualizing a specific compositional idea in a series of pastel or colored pencil sketches. I typically never achieve a design that represents the finished painting, but the sketching does provide enough preliminary design to begin the canvas. Next, I lay out my central composition in conté or oil pastel, and begin filling in areas of shape and color. Because the nuance of the color themes in each painting change frequently as I work, I have come to rely on acrylic paint as my primary medium, as it holds its color well and is fast-drying, allowing me to change large sections of the canvas in a short period of time.
Making art is a sublime and complex interaction of thoughts and material expression that is indelibly connected to my own view of the world. I believe that the individual still has consequence in the world, that communicating a sense of awe and wonder at being alive makes society a better place, that creating is always a better option than destruction, and that sharing our individual impressions improves our collective sense of empathy and understanding.
Kevin Comerford's Studio, June 27, 2016