Paintings

Statement

I consider my work visual inventions. A synthesis of organic forms and geometric structures, each image presents numerous possibilities: armatures or architectural models, anatomical fragments, mechanical devices, botanical growths, diaphanous vapors. These hybrids either float in an atmospheric field or exist in an undetermined landscape. All appear to be in a state of growth or decay.

I use memory and process as a way to discover new forms.  The memories are distilled from urban and rural landscape and how those landscapes were affected by light and weather. I am interested in how memory is influenced by time and how mental images become distorted: they change, decay or metamorphosize, as do actual physical forms. The process of painting - that series of events that occurs while sorting though possible decisions, then reacting to the surface as it begins to take form - is equally important.

From a distance the forms that dominate each composition seem dark and dense, nearly solid; inspected closely, edges appear sharper, colors have greater brilliance, and hidden structures emerge. I create these compressed and nearly impenetrable forms by applying multiple layers of paint, beginning with the structure furthest from the viewer. At different stages of this process, I remove some of the areas and repaint them, producing subtle shifts in color and definition. This process is repeated until the surface of the painting has a history that is physically tangible. The passage of time becomes documented (enmeshed) in the many layers of paint, and is further implied by surfaces that seem to be physically breaking down. The cumulative effect is that of decay: structures seem to be deteriorating, caused by forces of oxidation or decomposition.

This body of work attempts to balance opposing ideas: structure vs. disorder, impulse vs. deliberation, emotion vs. intellect, growth vs. decay.  While attempting to reconcile these ideas within each painting, innumerable changes take place. As a result, many of the early stages are buried, unknown to anyone but myself, existing only in memory. A great deal of time is spent painting images that will ultimately be destroyed or submerged. This process is necessary; each piece is a puzzle that consists of many false starts and abandoned paths. Rather than setting a predetermined result, I choose an approach that reflects uncertainty or unpredictability, one that allows the past to influence the present.

Resume

revisions, The Jonson Gallery, The University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM
Paintings, Roy Boyd Gallery, Chicago, IL

Summer Show ’07, Zg Gallery, Chicago, IL
Art Chicago,  Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL

The Memory of Place: Ben Whitehouse, Dan Gamble, Brian Ritchard, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL
Schemata: Dan Gamble & Kathleen McCarthy, Riverside Art Center, Riverside, IL