Statement from the artist - 1;
2005

A painting is an object.

That which occurs on that object is an event.

The event is the process of making the event happen. After the event occurs, what is left is an artifact of that event.

The artifact(s) remaining of the succession of the event(s) transforms the surface (canvas, wood, metal) from one kind of object (a sculpture, a window, a door) into another kind of object.

The nature of that final object is subject to the viewer (the participant.)

The response to that nature is subject to the viewer (the participant.)

All paintings are illusions. There is the object (canvas, wood etc.) and there is the record of the events that have transpired on that surface.

In a painting, there is that which is seen, and that which is not seen. All are perceived simultaneously by the viewer (participant), though they are not understood simultaneously.

A painting exists on several levels simultaneously.

This is an alchemical transformation, a transubstatiation.

Art refers only to itself, and is therefore exists independent of its environment.

Because of this, a painting can function on several ontological levels simultaneously.

A painting affects the environment, and vice versa.

Artist Statement from Art Detour 16, 2003

My paintings and drawings are a combination of my study of historical painting techniques, and of my exploration of the spontaneous imagery of my own inner world. Both are intriguing to me. As to the gray paintings, they are the result of my study of academic practices taught prior to the Twentieth Century. This resulted in a series of pieces that began as fully executed grisalle underpaintings, then color was later overpainted in glazes. I acknowledge Gerhard Richter’s work as the inspiration to leave my paintings as finished grayscale images. The images in the paintings are essentially non-essential: I consider the series to be minimalist abstractions.

My deepest thanks to those who posed for the paintings.

Stephen Michael Barnes
www.lasilencia.com

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©Stephen Michael Barnes 2006

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