|
NEW WORKS BY WILLIAM REICH Opening Reception, January 14 7-9pm "There are never less than 2 paintings going on in my studio or my head at any given time. Whipping out a quick splash of paint on a canvas and watching strange shapes develop gets my engine going and I can’t stop the energy after I start. The most difficult subject of all is the human face and body. I love trying to capture the essence of another person on some kind of surface every day, preferably in oil paint which more readily captures the depth and mystery of every subject I work on. Oil paints connect me to the artists who worked just as hard, and with similar passions, hundreds even thousands, of years ago to depict their worlds whether on canvas or a cave wall. Oil paints come from a long tradition, and they are similar to the elements from this earth that long dead artists used in their cave paintings. Moving back and forth from abstracts to figures keeps both sides of my brain alive and burning with the same passion I feel in my heart and the motion in my hands when I can’t wait to pick up a brush and fill the empty space on the canvas. Painting, to me, is both a physical and emotional experience. I love the whole process of creating paintings from building my own stretchers, stretching the canvas, mixing and applying the gesso to the canvas, applying the first wash, watching the first shapes emerge from the paint with every application, to applying the finishing highlights and then signing my name. Every painting is reality created by one’s mind’s experience of this world. One thing I love most about art is that it is a very forgiving medium. When I make mistakes I can incorporate them into my original design, and it will lead me to something new. Not many professions can be as forgiving as art. But mistakes in art are just something my mind saw that my eyes and hands missed the first time. And, most importantly, I can always paint over them.
I never try to force my vision of reality on the viewer. I always accept that they will have their own experience of the world which they bring with them when they view my work. I can only present my vision to them. They will draw their own conclusions. We all do that every day anyway whether we are in an art museum or a bait and tackle shop." |
