Philosophy and Artist's Statement

Everywhere I look, everywhere I am there is mystery and wonder…… every place I am there is action and energy going on in and around me.

Making art is what I do to get closer to my experience of this improbable situation of being here, in this time and place as a human being. I paint and make things to see what my relationship to all this is, the people, the stuff, this event I'm a part of, the living experience. "Stuff" might be an animal, a landscape, a plate of fruit or just energy…… I experience all of these and more.

In my painting I use a variety of styles. To me styles are like languages. I think one language better to write love poems and another better for philosophy. In the same way I choose styles best suited to my particular vision.

Some pieces will require soft colors and easy, soft edges while others will need bright, raw color and hard edges or no edges at all…… many choices. Also I might use abstraction, figurative, or even illustration to express my experience. When I start with a blank canvas, the tension between not knowing and knowing what the end will be, in the end, fulfills the intension.

When making things, objects such as furniture, or decorative pieces or even sculpture requires the same commitment and yet the approach to the piece can be different, options re-considered and renewed with less distress. I find the making art a series of actions that reduce options that create challenges, problems that when engaged and resolved inform and enlighten the work.

Sal Brownfield