KATHLEEN CRAIG
STAUNTON, VIRGINIA
Artist's Statement
There are two kinds of abstract painting: paintings that continue in the tradition of portraying or referring to something, however beyond words it may be, often with a figure-ground relationship, hence, the term figurative painting? The other kind, perhaps best characterized by the term nonobjective, are paintings that seek to be objects in themselves, as much separate objects as a rock or a tree or a house. When I try to make such a painting I feel overly limited by the shape – you are obliged to make a flat rectangular thing. No wonder Michelangelo preferred sculpture! For me, the possibilities of figurative painting, however abstract, stretch out in all directions. Confusing to be sure, but how exciting.
Also I am discursive, hopelessly diverse. Call it ADD or wanderlust, the need for change and stimulus, or the shriek against boredom, the yearning to feed gas and keep driving on and on forever to new places: It would be almost impossible for me to develop a “body of work” that “matches.” Each painting for me has to be a whole new exploration.
Campaign
