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"We work until we vanish" -Philip Guston

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As artists, we spend hours, days, years in the studio analyzing, experimenting, observing and discussing. But the magic occurs in stillness.

 

Nothing is more satisfying, exciting nor mysterious than when a new and clearer level of seeing and guidance takes command. The conditioned mind subsides; the paint takes charge and I become the messenger.   

 

My interest in scale has varied over the years. For a long time, I needed to work very large. Usually 7' x 7'. It's physical, demanding and aggressive. I would start with a simple structure, build it up, obliterate it and bring it back again. Forms appear and are developed. Others are eliminated. The process of building up and tearing down would take place over months and months.

 

Then something shifted. I craved making smaller paintings (often 6" x 6") and wanted the process to be immediate. Either the first spontaneous, bold marks worked or they didn't. As can be imagined, frustratingly, they often didn't, but when the positive/negative space, composition and forms came together with both tension and harmony, the result was satisfying. Can "very simple" be exciting? I want to find out. 

 

Patterns (dots, in particular) grabbed my attention. Can something as simple as a dot have a personality? An attitude? Is the dot lonely? Or rebellious? How do they behave when they're in a crowd? Bolder and braver, perhaps? The dots became my friends and were endlessly interesting and full of surprises. 

 

One of the reasons working and playing with paint is so satisfying, is because paint handling has no limits. I can splatter, scrape, scratch, smear and drip...whatever the canvas or paper in front of me requests (or demands).

 

The only certainty is that the paint is in charge; my job is to listen and respond. 

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Susan Aulik 2019