Palm Loft Gallery



STATEMENT FOR VISUAL MUSICThis exhibit spans about 15 years of creative effort. These years reflect changes and ‘about-faces’ that have occurred throughout my evolution as a painter. And they always have happened without my having any preconceived plan or stylistic considerations. These ‘about-faces’ may confuse you---especially if you are looking for some sort of consistency and recurring style and approach that enables you to categorize what I do. This variety of approaches has not been the result of my floundering about ‘to find myself’ or my experimenting to find some sort of ‘saleable’ creation. I think of myself as a ‘visual philosopher’ and a ‘visual musician’ rather than as a painter.A helpful way to look at these startling periodic departures in subject and expression is to see them as you might view contrails that moving airplanes have left in the sky. That is, they are records of where I’ve been---visual footprints---physically, emotionally, creatively and spiritually as my life has moved along its path.Keep in mind that each of these paintings is part of a much larger, more comprehensive series. I didn’t just work in a certain style and subject matter on one or two paintings and then jump to something completely different. Each series encompassed months and sometimes even years. In some cases, one series led to another and I borrowed ideas and images from the previous one and incorporated them into the next.The earliest works in the exhibition were inspired by a cross-country trip by train in November 2005 to visit a dear friend and painter who lives in a loft in Tribeca (Manhattan). The rail trip itself resulted in a series of abstract landscapes as experienced while speeding through the countryside (just glimpses and impressions)---farmlands and neighborhoods in the Midwest and the railroad track through a river valley in West Virginia. Me on the train to NYC Midwest farmWest Virginia PAINTINGS INSPIRED BY THE TRIPNext are some paintings from the Manhattan part of the trip. These paintings are much more representational and I created them as if they were part of a film production where I was the ‘director’, the ‘actor’, the ‘scriptwriter’ and ‘cinematographer’. Me in Manhattan TRIBECA MORNING OFFERINGThe ancient Egypt-inspired paintings reflected some of the images I had done in Manhattan combined with some Egyptian tomb paintings, the mystery of which fascinated me while still keeping with the figurative motif.Finally, back to the landscape/coastals which have been the mainstay of my work over my 50 years as a painter. My painting has gone full circle: I started as an abstract painter and I have returned to more abstract work in the last few years. Music has also played a big part in my life and the later paintings in this exhibition reflect that. For me, painting has always been about creating the environment that I want to live in. I want to surround myself with images that are life-affirming and positive. This has become all the more important as the world has gotten more chaotic and divisive. I want my paintings to be a breath of fresh air and to create an uplifting mood that is like being surrounded by beautiful music. The very late paintings of Willem de Kooning and the paper cut-outs of Henri Matisse come close to the vision that I am seeing in my most recent paintings. They have not so much inspired me, but rather reaffirmed what I have already discovered. Seeing them may give you some idea of what I am looking for in my own work. Late paintings of de Kooning Paper cut-outs of MatisseI choose colors for their emotional effect rather than reproduce the colors I actually see before me (what we call ‘local colors’). Currently, I am using lighter colors and a lot of white which create the luminosity that I seek. I want my viewers to be happy they are alive, to be excited by new possibilities and new ways of seeing and experiencing the world around them, and to feel relieved to be surrounded by positive energy. DONALD ARCHER, Cambria, October 2019 ................
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