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"The human figure has been a predominant part of my work
since I first began making art. As I more consciously explored
what I considered to be the 'human condition', it became apparent
to me that the place where we live - the earth - is inseparable
from our physical presence. For the past few years, the
underlying form of the human figure in much of the work has become
less obvious as 'landscape characteristics' reflect my personal
environment. This is where I live!
There is an amalgamation in the painting processes with understated
concerns for many contemporary issues - such as climate change,
human atrocities, violence, aggression, racism, religious and
social intolerance. These concerns are clearly not
depicted in an obvious way. Such awareness need not be graphically
forced to be present. This is an intuitive personal approach,
and only vaguely conceptual.
____________
Throughout the painting process, the fleeting nature of vision,
memory, recall and transformation are reflected in the work.
The 'image' made on canvas or paper is transformed and filtered
through visual memory, experiential processing, emotional responses,
as well as extraneous thought, and is further transformed through
the process of making marks with paint and brush. The marks become
objects of interest, in and of themselves. The results
often appear to have only 'passing' reference to the original
vision or thought. Everything changes when that first mark
is made on a canvas; it presents a new experience, which then
leads to another, and then another, and the process of invention,
intervention, with unlimited choices and decisions, leading to
an end result. (Not always a satisfactory result) The choice
about what seems to be 'working', and what is not, is a very
subtle thing, based on personal experience with art, and history,
and a sense of the aesthetic. This is a modernist view, not very
popular in postmodern culture.
During the act of drawing or painting, memory and recall become
mixed with concepts of evolution, decay, change, the human condition,
and constantly confronted social issues. It also invokes a distinct
change in the moment of seeing, from what seems real to what
is interpreted in a magical way, like making the invisible visible.
Interpreted, of course … paint on canvas is, after
all, just paint on canvas. Throughout the process, the
mind filters and synthesizes a virtual image that reflects the
fleeting nature of vision, memory, experiential processing, emotional
responses, as well as extraneous thought, and is further transformed
through the physical process of mark making with paint and brush.
When I look at something, even study it; then turn my head away
for a moment - perhaps intending to paint or draw my response;
in that moment, everything changes. I may retain a memory
of what I saw, but it's not the same thing. I'm interested in
that transformative space between; between that momentary, fleeting
glimpse, and then it's translation with paint into marks, made
with the end of a brush, at the end of my arm, onto canvas -
between thought and object. I am intrigued by the almost
magical, and not exactly in control, appearance of fascinating
combinations of color, shape, texture, suggestive forms that
happen when marks meet paper or canvas.
____________
I find actual landscape to be quite sensual, with all its undulating
forms and textures - the use of the human figure merging with
landscape has reflected this quality. In the studio, it is mostly
at the moment when paint touches the canvas, that this becomes
so apparent. There is a moment of transformation/transfiguration
that seems to occur almost beyond my control. At that point,
the 'literal' no longer interests me; an intuitive process takes
over, and the physical paint, canvas, and the less than conscious
marks that are made, become of interest. This gradual evolution
has led to a slightly more graphic approach and an increased
interest in the paint surface, the emotive effects of colour,
layering of landscape elements, and many visual experiences such
as banding, perspective anomalies, foreground / background relationships.
Richard Reid, January, 2017
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