Abstract Painting (2014-present)

This collection contains the majority of my abstract work created during my time in Los Angeles. The compositions are representative of my preferred painting style, which tends toward mixed-media abstracts on medium-sized canvases, typically between 3-6ft wide. The improvised application of color, texture and depth borrows from the tradition of mid-century Canadian and American abstract expressionists.

Unlike my drawings such as Incorporated Fruit and Deep Fake which are deeply researched, highly figurative and full of narrative symbols, my paintings are stream-of-consciousness abstracts. The style of my painted work borrows from the example of American artists such as Franz Kline, Willem De Kooning and Helen Frankenthaler, as well as lesser known Canadian contemporaries such as Paul-Émile Borduas, Jean-Paul Riopelle and Marcelle Ferron.

For those that have a hard time understanding and appreciating the “point” of abstract art, I think one of the best explanations on the significance of the medium was made by the art critic Clement Greenberg. Greenberg argued that figurative painting (from Michelangelo to Monet) was based on an illusion: the illusion of depth in a canvas, and the pretense of three-dimensional human life on what was, in truth, an inert, two-dimensional surface. 

In Greenberg's opinion, the dedication to stream-of-conciousness expressionism was a natural reaction to the overwhelming nostalgia of figurative painting, whose subject matter was too easily manipulated for the purposes of propaganda, both political and commercial.

Abstract expressionism in contrast, is an attempt to escape from the burdens of external expectations. Abandoning religious, national or cultural requirements and instead aiming to explore a visual representation of the self.

From my personal experience, the unbound nature of this art style (while still capable of instigating frustration and disappointment) is incredibly cathartic. In addition to escaping cultural and historical constraints, it is also an escape from a carefully planned technical process. Since execution is dependent on chance, the ultimate success with the work (which I judge based on the arrangment of shapes, and the interaction of color) is largely dependent on unconscious creativity.