Artist Statement 

 

Non-Objective Paintings

 

I like to call [these paintings] “concrete non-objectivity.” Concrete: hard-edge, fixed in space, interlinked and Non-objective: no subject, no portrait, no landscape, no bowl of fruit or other known “object” from our reality. [They represent] new stuff in our universe – in my own mind of course. 

 

I intentionally try to minimize anything that says “it looks like…” My intention in doing this is that the viewer have no frame of reference – no “up” – no “down” – no “left” or “right.” I want to ask: What’s left over when all your frames of reference are denied you? I want to send the viewer into “free-fall” – Scale-less – micro/macro… I want the canvas to become a sort of “window” to a unnameable dimension. I’m not working from a still life

 

That is part of the intention and at the core of this ‘philosophy’ about painting that I am chasing down. What's unique about this in my painting evolution is that this is the first time I have put the ‘hard-edge’ treatment inside an otherwise ‘painterly’ (brush) space. The hard-edge color is very subtle and your not going to pick it out easily (its the very faint sandy color). If I stick to my process - all the ambiguous (unconnected) areas are going to be ‘killed.’ Covered up. Locking their energy in the unseen while bringing out new ‘characters’ that will affect the space that is the canvas. Often, I try to discover a "force" or ‘energy’ line that screams itself into existence, just to see what it has to say. (Yes, colors speak to us.) I consider this far more challenging than settling into a landscape, or portrait. Portraits of people are the hardest for me. I tend to the plastic, cold objectification of things and people are not plastic and cold. ‘Personality’ of a living person is very hard to capture - although sometimes it can come about easily. Character out of ‘nothing’ - that intrigues me. Is that what I'm trying to do: create a character out of nothing? Maybe. I discover more things in this stuff than I could every find in chasing nature. To paint nature, I would need a second lifetime. While I am here (and running out of days) - I'd rather explore this stuff. 

 

-Ken Gulley