Artists Statement - December 1996
In my latest paintings I seek to represent what Nature is about, rather than painting Nature itself. If one looks at the microcosm and the macrocosm a picture of an infinitely intelligent universe appears. From either the physicists viewpoint or the spiritualists, the concept of the unified field emerges. A field where chaos and order exist without separation. Where in-fact, there is nothing that is separate from anything else.
These are principles I live by, and therefore enter into what I paint. The image that occurs in most of my paintings from 1996 is that of plant tendrils. In chaotic, unstructured bursts of growth, they posses a lyrical beauty innocent of premeditation. What a wonderful example for us. To be free, yet completely one with the world around us.
The process of painting is such a metaphor for the process of Nature. Birth, growth, and death. Adding and subtracting. Working on an intuitive level I'm tapping the same source as the tendril itself. Even the techniques I utilize working on wood panels have developed in an organic way. When asked how long a painting took, I tell the person my age. Nothing is separate. This painting could not have existed without the hundreds before it.
Why paint then, if Nature and painting are so similar? Besides being inexplicably drawn to it, I feel that my painting can enhance peoples lives. A deeper appreciation of the things we take for granted. A simple reminder of beauty in this world go es a long way. We are Nature, and beauty is us.
An invaluable aspect of painting is translucency. Unlike the opaqueness of the world around us (at least to the unaided eye) a painting made of translucent layers can be -seen into. It's almost like seeing past, present, and future together. Whether air, earth, or water, the fields that I paint can simultaneously hold the promise of new life, growth, and decay. By seeing into the layers, we can remove ourselves from the mere present, and enter into the bigger picture.
The use of geometric overlays and space divisions may seem the very picture of the human intervention of Nature. In a way, they are. But if you look at the constellations, geometry also becomes part of the mix. Uniqueness and integration. Chaos and Order. Concepts that may seem only intellectual are really the very fabric of Life, and therefore of these paintings also.
Howard Hersh
December 1996
