On Barns, Farms, & Other Work Structures
Included in this virtual exhibit are some subjects and specific places I paint over and over. I don’t ask why, it’s just a feeling, and I act on it. They’re close to where I live and where my family is from.
I take hundreds of process shots, revisiting locations for years (over twenty in some cases). These expeditions are part of my process. I obsessively gather images of these places in various seasons, times of the day, weather conditions, and when I can capture a certain light. I collect this information to convey something real about these specific barns, farms, abandoned houses, factories, and work-related buildings that are nearby.
As many of you know, I’ve been painting these subjects for a long time and some of the paintings themselves take me years to complete. They’re internal conversations around ideas that percolate over time. Once I start, the paintings tell me what they need and I listen. It’s a very slow process, but I move slowly anyway, so we keep each other company. It feels like problem-solving, in the best possible way; something like constructing a quilt for me.
These buildings adapt and evolve. The construction rarely has an aesthetic driver and the changes are always practical, in order to solve a problem. There’s an abstraction that occurs as they get modified by use and purpose, along with nature’s slow reclamation. I’m interested in that story, knowing there are real people and real history that goes with each piece and finding out what that is through the work.
Just as I want to be specific with my subjects, I try to support local organizations doing real work to solve problems here in Maine. I’ll be donating 15% of all sales proceeds for works in this exhibit through the end of 2020 to Maine Recovery Fund, a partner of MaineWorks. This extraordinary organization is run by my fellow Waynflete classmate and longtime friend, Margo Walsh. You can find out more about the important work Margo and her team are doing at https://www.maineworks.us/ and www.mainerecoveryfund.org