Three Artist Statement Statements
My recent paintings entitled Memoria, exemplify a process of wrapping or layering impasto acrylic paint on various oval and round formats. A tondo (plural “tondi” or “tondos”) is a Renaissance term for a circular work of art, deriving from the Italian word rotondo, “round.”I employ a large palette knife allows me to layer thick impasto interweaving and overlapping swathes of paint. When you work on a circle or oval, corners disappear, revealing only edges. On a deeper level, I see chance interactions of these color layers jostling amidst one another creating immediate effects of color stasis and kinesis. Marks disappear and reemerge within the speed blur illusion of the palette knife application of acrylic paint blobs applied directly onto the surface. I do not need a palette, as my painting ground is the palette where the expression is birthed. Each painting is an adventure in direct expression of color swathes composed in a swirling direction akin to a spiral or whirlpool found in celestial and terrestrial nature.
David Harmon, born in St. Louis, Missouri, MFA Penn State University
My work stems from an investigation of mark making processes in paint. In this age of digital mark making, I choose to use traditional processes birth from my investigations into the “all over” approach to painting .I must pay homage to Marc Tobey who really set the stage for this free form approach beginning in the 1940’s with his gouache paintings on paper and hardboard. Jackson Pollack saw an exhibition of his before he had begun his large format all over approach in the 1950’s.Words sometime emanate through a field of my paint marks betraying my love of poetry and writing .It takes an abundance of concentration to make these paintings work cohesively. It is my goal to continue to work in this manner for some time to come.
Stephen Harmon, born in Chicago, Illinois, MFA Texas State University
When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. (Jackson Pollock) My paintings embrace this attitude. They were made in this manner of off stretcher painting. These art works are mixed media on paper and /or un-stretched canvas, ranging in size from 3'x 5' to 15' x 5’. The titles and the inspiration of the paintings are taken from several books I have read about topics such as; The Lithuanian Genocide, femicides in Juarez, Honor killings, girls sold into sex slavery and The Holocaust. These artworks embrace these ideas. I was told these bodies of art look like a wound and the stitches which sew up a wound. How apropos.
Susan Harmon, born in Chicago, Illinois, MFA Georgia Southern University
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