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ARTIST
STATEMENT A Hopeless Romance
I am not a member of the creative class. I don’t have a car, I don’t
drink coffee at coffee shops nor am I a member of any particular scene.
I do not design web pages, loathe the fact I own a cell phone and I
don’t know how to operate a DVD player. I am an artist, I paint
pictures and sell them for a living.
I have dedicated my life into
producing a body of work that represents my thoughts and feelings using
such arcane materials as oil paint, canvas and brushes. I refuse to use
Astroturf or Saran Wrap in my work and I am not interested in appealing
to the sensibilities of an art world that has long since lost any sense
of meaning and soul.
Instead, I relate often satiric tales
onto canvas using the devices I have learned by studying the work of
true painters that came before me – Titian, Rubens, Beckmann, DeKooning,
Benton, and Levine and interweave narratives and historical allusions
into new tales of woe and revelations of a lost innocence and
omnipresent foreboding. I like to think of my paintings as didactic in
nature, but also wish for them to be enjoyed as much I as I enjoy
creating them.
I like lush surfaces and the look and
feel of oil paint. I don’t shy away from the past, nor do I feel I am
bound to it, and approach every new canvas building a composition that
best correlates the thoughts and themes in my head. Invariably, people
start to develop, and other imagery comes into being as the painting
progresses. Soon, the canvas begins to ask and demand things from me,
and I must respond and react as the vision matures.
I feel
simultaneously out of touch and deeply imbedded with the world around
me. I believe careful reflection and observation of the world, combined
with my life’s experiences, has informed my paintings and I can no
longer separate them from my life. I want my paintings to contain a
rich soul and essence of humanity that is lacking in art today. Shallow
politicians, prostitutes, lovers, con artists and the people you see on
the street everyday are all equals on my canvases. As my technique and
ideas expand and contract through constant practice, my paintings evolve
and grow, and I hope will continue to support my life in the years to
come.
Michael Schliefke
August, 2005 |
