Brief Artist's Statement.

(The following statement refers specifically to work which I've created for myself; work which I have primarily placed within the Fine Art Section of this Gallery.)

I am going to begin my artist's statement with a disclaimer: I tend to dislike artist statements. Frankly, they often come across as awkward and contrived to me. So, irregardless of how much time I will have spent on the following piece, painstakingly cultivating the best things to say and the best way to say them, I predict there will still be that slight whiff of contrivedness to it all. Better to just let pictures speak for themselves, I say, rather than inflating them with bombastic prose description.

Nevertheless, in spite of my disclaimer, here I go anyway! So, enjoy...

At this point in my artistic life my work has encompassed a range of themes and subject matter. But if I was to pinpoint and elaborate upon those themes which are perhaps closest to my heart, then I would say that I am most interested in issues of personal identity and self-hood. Along these lines, I've been impelled to create work that attempts to portray The Individual's emergence as a discreet, independent Self in the phenomenal world, and the inherent difficulties and trials that he or she faces. In a vast and complicated world filled with so many diverse things, how exactly do we establish our own clear sense of Self? What are the factors we use to define ourselves?

Interestingly, in my work I have often chosen to portray the somber side of reality to bring these concerns into focus, rather than the so-called "light, happy" side. There is often an element of starkness to the figures I paint; of isolation and solitude. (The paintings "Specimen On Display," "The Advent Of Doubt," and "Lost Traveller" are examples.) It is through depicting this dimension of existence that I can carve out the meaning and significance that I am trying to reach. These different characters I paint often seem to be undergoing some kind of alienation, but an alienation that is sometimes self-imposed and not necessarily from some outside agent.

At the risk of seeming too concerned with the somber and moody, I should declare that I am capable of creating more lighthearted work too. Many of my ideas have moved into a realm I would choose to describe as magical realism. Or my own brand of it, at least. For instance, there is the painting, "Seven Figures In Pursuit Of The Fleeting Moment," which depicts an inane adventure of sorts. On first viewing one may not be sure of what is actually taking place. The painting does not lend itself readily to a logical interpretation. Seven figures appear to be in the heat of a chase after some absurd, jester-like figure wearing a potato-sack cape, while behind them and running in the opposite direction is a grinning, impish spirit who is effectively eluding them all. My intention for this painting is not that it necessarily make sense on a commonsense level, but that it convey a sense of giddy, nonsensical energy and humor; that the viewer might get caught up in the comradery of the figures and the spontaneity of the moment.

Alternatively, my aim has sometimes been as "plain" as wanting to create a beautiful scene or reality that I can really climb into. For an instance of this, the viewer can refer to the title picture on the gallery's home page. Whatever my chosen criteria for a painting may be, though, I really hope that the viewer may enjoy it for what it is, and derive from it his or her own meaning.

Bill Poynter, June 2007