Why am I so little an artist that I always regret that the statue and the picture are not alive? Why do I understand the Musician better, why do I see the raison d'être of his abstractions better? - Vincent Van Gogh

The common understanding of the word abstract is that which denotes or implies something apart from the actual thing. In line with that definition, all representative art should correctly be termed abstract, paint applied on a surface representing something in the natural world. When referring to art that does not contain recognizable images, the term Non-representational Art is preferable over Abstract Art.

Painting is plastic means for expression. It should be no surprise that the qualities that we commonly expect from other forms of expression are the same qualities that are found in painting. Yet people have fewer preconceived expectations of a work of music than they do a painting or drawing. Critics have never complained that they cannot understand a musical work because it does not sound like a bird's song, a babbling brook or something else recognizable. Even if the painting is clearly representative in nature, it is the viewers’ responsibility to perceive the work’s intrinsic qualities and to decide if the artist succeeded in his intentions.

All artwork originates from what the artist experiences. In theater, depiction and story are integral to the art. Song lyrics can poetically tell a story and complement the melody. Painting can have a representative or literary component. If the artist chooses to illustrate recognizable objects in his work, the story that the characters evoke becomes part of the painting. For example, Picasso's famous painting, Guernica emotes the actual horror it depicts. In the visual fine arts like painting, if story illustration is the artist’s single-minded goal, that is not enough to produce quality artwork.

All great works of art exist independent of time, analysis, and history. They are worlds created by the artist in which the viewer meanders through the artist’s inspiration. An artist expresses from what he knows. The artwork’s quality exists in the perception of the artist’s intentions realized through relationships of various components inherent to the vehicle of expression.

Whether or not art can be taught is a debate for the theorists. At the least, it can be said that the job of teaching a student to become an artist is not easily done. The techniques that are taught in art school that "capture" reality are merely illusionary tricks that remind the viewer of a natural scene. The analogy in music would be like listening to a tune that mimics the sound of an idyllic scene. It may be interesting and skillfully done but after a few minutes, anyone would conclude that it is lacking the enduring qualities that make it a great work of art. Painting au plein-air, the artist must decide how much detail should be included and where on the painting it should be placed. If you paint a forest then should you also include every leaf? Including detail may show craftsmanship but it does not make good art. A writer that describes every detail in a scene better have good reason for doing so or else his book will become unreadable. It is the artist's decision to represent a landscape with many brush strokes or a single brush stroke. Either way is valid and in itself has no bearing on the work’s quality.

Good painters imitate nature, bad ones spew it up. - Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish novelist

The goal of an illustration is the depiction or amplification of a story or real-life experience. Painting that is illustrative can never be completely separated from what the literary components that gave it birth. If a list of definitions for symbols is needed to understand the iconography of a painting, the quality of the art suffers. Painting should primarily emphasis the pictorial components of two-dimensional expression.

The artistic shorthand that is used to render a scene changes over time. Representation is closely tied to the contemporary modes of perception by a culture. Egyptian art appears flat not because the artists saw only in two dimensions but because the figures are depicted in a way their culture required. The qualities, which are so important to modern-day art lovers, were of insignificant importance then. Primitive art does not appear photographic because photography did not exist. Perspective was not evident since technology to observe perspective was not available.

Individual perception is a complex phenomenon. No one sees color the same way. Our perception is influenced by our genetics. Apart from this, each person's demeanor will effect what we see. The eye is not selective. All available light reaches the eye. The brain makes the decision on what to recognize. A hungry man will focus differently on food than someone who is sated or someone who is nauseated. Since most of us have two good functioning eyes, we perceive from two viewpoints and this results in a feeling of three-dimensional depth. To represent the human experience of perception on a two-dimensional surface is no small feat. To judge a work of art only by its photographic qualities, one does not understand perception, photographic distortion, or the two-dimensional plastic media. To judge a work of art on its naturalistic rendering is ignoring the full plastic means of expression.

Painting is a thundering collision of different worlds, intended to create a new world in, and from, the struggle with one another, a new world which is the work of art. Each work originates just as does the cosmos - through catastrophes which out of the chaotic din of instruments ultimately create a symphony, the music of the spheres. The creation of works of art is the creation of the world. - Wassily Kandinsky

Fine art must exist on a higher level. All great art is autonomous. Illustration produces representation while fine painting expresses a reality. A quality painting can seem magical, but the artist’s goal should never rely be merely slight-of-hand naturalistic illusion. Instead of being illustrative, the overtones resulting from tensions from the elemental components of painting, physical paint application and color arrangement determines the quality in a painted work of art. The elemental components of a painting by themselves do not produce quality art. They must be forced by the artist’s hypersensitivity to effect in the viewer certain emotions. The viewer should always be aware that he is looking at how the artist manipulates color media on a surface.

Quality in art is the essence resulting from convincingly established felt relationships. – Hans Hofmann

A painting can be broken down to basic components: line, plane and volume. Line generally occurs at the intersection of two planes. Most people are familiar with the use of line in a naturalist sense where it symbolizes light and shadow rendering of a form. Even a viewer not familiar with the symbolism can quickly interpret its meaning in its use to describe a recognizable object. Unfortunately, this may be the only way line is used in a work of art. More than that, line can be used emphasize or organize forms. Line can be expanded to become a planar form and its edges retain line quality.

The plane is the primary component to any painting. Since the picture plane essentially is flat, three-dimensional formation occurs by flat two-dimensional planar modeling. The effect of color and color juxtaposition creates a realistic three-dimensional experience in the observer. Planar tensions described in color create volumes. The arrangement of these components by the artist is the manifestation of the artist’s hypersensitivity.

Most of painting is found in transitions: how one colored area changes into something else. Color tensions are strongest at these points. Even in color field painting the viewer instinctively searches for those transitions and focuses on any variations. Too much variation can neutralize these tensions. Areas of variation must be counterbalanced by areas of rest which magnify the total effect. In representational painting what analysts commonly describe as figure placement and structure is essentially discussions of transitions.

An artist must always be wary of using color as merely a decorative tool. Color, like nature is beautiful. Yet, not all natural scenes are beautiful. According to Hofmann’s statement, quality fine art must clearly exhibit the artist’s intentions. This implies specific functional selection. Any color can be placed next to another to produce a tensional effect. By not using this tension in the painting’s world for a greater purpose is decorating.

A quality work of art must have a measure of unusualness.

A good work of art must be indescribable and inimitable. – Pierre Auguste Renoir

Any painting has a sequential quality. One paint application occurs after another. Layers of paint exist. Its importance will depend upon the artist. Paint is three dimensional on the surface of a work and is part of the viewing experience. In any work of art, the artist’s own hand should be visible. A beautiful painting should be painted beautifully. Modifying Duke Ellington's words, "If it looks (sounds) good, it is good." All paintings have a certain rhythm. Whether created by color juxtaposition or paint application, these tensions are the vehicle for artistic expression. A painting comes to life when the artist effectively forces the components to interact with one another to produce specific tensions that evoke a realization that the artist experienced.

Having said all that, deconstructing a painting does not result in a formula for producing quality works of art.

A painter should not paint what he sees, but what will be seen. - Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French poet and writer

Although I was born in Germany, I have lived most of my life in the Mohawk Valley region of upstate New York. If it were not for the encouragement from my art instructors in grade school and high school, I do not think I would ever have attempted further studies in the arts. How sad it is that the arts in this time have been denigrated to a frivolous endeavor in public education. Time has shown that a culture is never looked upon in good favor for its conquests. What a culture creates artistically is what endures for posterity.

I entered university with all the intentions of pursuing a field of industrial design. After the one semester of studio drawing and painting, fine arts became my obsession. I fell in love with the work of French Impressionists and contemporary American artists, Pollock, Rothko, Hofmann and Avery. I knew that the chance of earning a living doing fine arts was slim. Idealistically, I felt that if I did good things someone eventually would recognize my work. My last year at Syracuse was disheartening. It became evident that much of good art produced would never be seen. Rather than the quality of a work of art, what is more important is the connection an artist makes to get his work shown. Much of promoted artwork shown may be popular but not of high quality. I graduated in 1976 from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting.

The years immediately after were spent paying back my educational debt and raising a family. Painting took a back seat but was not forgotten. The artwork I did was for my family and myself. As midlife approached, it became clear to me that “good painting” was either not done or not being shown. Too many times I felt that I could do that, only better.

Living in a prosperous developed country, we citizens should demand more from the art world. The lack of quality fine art displayed in galleries and museums always proved to be a source of irritation. I believe that what has plagued the fine arts is work that relies solely on literary depiction and lacks the elemental qualities that give the work life. It was not until the renovation of the former Daniel Green building in Dolgeville where I live that the opportunity arrived to further my career. The owners of the now named Dolgeville Mill have provided space and encouragement for me to produce paintings in earnest.

All artists have certain qualities that make them individuals. Like all creative mediums, there are different levels of quality in expression. I believe that there is good art and bad art. A work’s quality can be ascertained in a consensus of unprejudiced-trained observers. The question, “Is it art?” is not important. If it is made, it is art.

I create what most people term incorrectly, abstract art. Abstraction implies a departure from reality. My artwork starts from real-life experience, but it is never my intention to fool the viewer into thinking that it is any way an illustration of nature. By not trying to deceive the viewer, my paintings become more real than abstract. The subject matter exists only as a vehicle to build upon to promote expression. I do not paint subjects. I paint paintings.

Inspiration for painting comes from patterns or relationships I have observed. I may take an arrangement of objects or forms I see in nature and try to organize them in some manner on a canvas. Before the actual painting begins, I decide upon a system of paint application that I will use to convey what I originally experienced. At some time while I am involved in the painting, the painting will take over and dictate the decision making process I will make to the reveal the completed artwork. Rather than by calculation, art should be the result of an artist’s intuition. If the system of painting produces an interesting particular result then I will do multiple versions at some time. To the dismay of those who demand to see a logical progression of an artist’s work that shows his maturity, I cannot see why any artist would want to produce artwork after artwork that are virtual clones.

I have heard too many times that painting is such an outlet for the artist. Art is really for the artist. The blank canvas is a scary proposition. Every painting demands an unattainable perfection. The feeling is akin to what Olympic athletes must feel. They will always look to something better or faster as their goal, something that they will never quite achieve but will always pursue. To say how much of a release it is to paint seems to state a compromise to the achievement of quality. When I feel a work is successful, I do get a sense reward. What a nagging taskmaster that fine art is. Pleasure is at best 50-50 proposition. I’m not singing in the shower.

Beyond the basics of form, line and color, a painting chronicles the application of paint to a surface. The artist embraces this fact and uses it in his work as part of his expression. Much of art that is easily digestible by the public is primarily literary or conceptual in nature, ancillary to the pure viewing experience. Artists should never rely on story to compose a painting.

For me as an artist, depiction is not important. I am more concerned with transitions. How one color form changes into the next, whether it is gradual or abrupt. Color intervals that create tensions or voids. Drawing that can emphasize and organize areas in the painting.

Inspiration comes from what I experience. That could be a scene, a part of a painting I had done or just a concept. My medium of choice is acrylic paint applied to canvas that is stretched on cellulose panels for support. The paint I use many times is very fluid requiring that most of the painting to be done on the floor. This allows me to work on the painting from all sides. The painting’s finished dimensions are not determined until the painting is completed.

Painting starts with the selecting of colors that I wish to use. I also decide the type of space I wish to paint whether it is landscape-horizontal or portrait-vertical or something else. All this can change as the painting progresses. I try not to do what I want but I try to do what is necessary to make the painting work. The artist’s intuition directs his hand. In that lies the artist’s skill and the talent.

My paintings are not illustrations. The painted forms are not abstractions of the natural world. I use no symbolism or iconography. I understand that there is a tendency to see shapes in the clouds of paint. Attempting to accredit meaning to the forms will only obscure the works visual reality. I attempt to produce paintings that are more real than abstract. I aspire to combine those components elemental to painting in a plastic manner and create a high level visual experience.

The modern artist is working with space and time, and expressing his feelings rather than illustrating. –Jackson Pollock

When I paint, I never think of selling. People simply fail to understand that we paint in order to experiment and to develop ourselves as we strive for greater heights. – Edvard Munch

To understand a work of art like a painting one must look to transitions: how the artist moves from one color form to another. To think that a painting is merely an arrangement of forms is the viewer is missing the art. I am reminded of Cezanne’s still-life paintings. The arrangement of the forms is of course significant. Do not think that the arrangement exhibits some mystical or empirical perfection. The brilliance of the work is how Cezanne progresses from one form to the next.

I don't start with a color order, but find the colors as I go. - Helen Frankenthaler
I’d rather risk an ugly surprise than rely on things I know I can do. - Helen Frankenthaler
To sustain conviction is often a struggle. No one enjoys being alone. - Helen Frankenthaler