statement regarding Fictions

Each painting in this series is conceived as the voice of an individual, or a group of individuals, or a narrator that is then projected as text stenciled on an unpainted region of the composition. Only the titles of each painting are in my unmediated voice.

Soon after I began the series, I saw that many of the voices reflected entrapment, as if they were the victims of circumstances they could not control. I did not plan this. But once noted, I chose to follow it as a general theme.

I alone compose the words of each voice on the unpainted section. I do not quote anyone. Only in the titles do I reference the words or the work of other artists.   

The canvases rarely exceed five feet in any direction. Expanding beyond that scale tends to amplify its voice to stridency, which I believe disturbs the equilibrium between word and image necessary for maintaining the intimacy crucial to painting as an art form. 

PM

December 2023