In part, my work comes from a sense that something is missing. There is a lack, a loss, significant distance, or a gap at the center of of it. Painting and drawing seem to be actions oriented toward rebuilding, or at least some sort of compensation. Maybe rebuilding is productive, reparative, or forward looking. Compensation, though, is tragic. It tries to fill holes it can never fill, and ends up as a consolation, at best. One could be seen as optimistic. The other is pathetic. I think my work happens as an oscillation between these two.
The subject matter of my work is important - to me at least. But abstraction probably makes it mostly unavailable. I think this sets up a parallel if a viewer is engaged with the work. The reasons the work might be engaging sit next to the reasons someone else may be connected to the work, but the two don’t ever touch.
What happens when something is important to someone and we are engaged with it, but not for the reason it is important to that person? What happens when we like something while misunderstanding it, while we are off topic, while we are distracted away from its essence or the original intent?