"Judgement of Paris" (in progress)
When I think about my art and what a personal and intimate journey it has been and continues to be, I feel extreme gratitude towards the people who find merit in it. Artists take a risk putting themselves out there, and the fact that people throughout my career are able to receive, recognize and appreciate my art, is an extremely rewarding experience in itself.
Artists are in a constant search for a means of expression that captures the essence of human experience; that thing we all share and call life. Finding the gesture, the moment and perspective from which people can see and appreciate the beauty of life is is of primary importance to me and has been my goal ever since I started making art. I have always had a keen interest in figurative work and studied the architecture and structure of the image in drawing, painting and sculpture. In 1990, I was inspired by my model’s dance movements. This resulted in a quick creation of a large painting on paper that was later transmitted onto canvas. Since then, I have always started work with a quick sketch to capture the dancer/model’s movements. This encourages a natural flow of energy in the work and the painting gains a greater resemblance of life. The more a model moves, the more abstract the painting becomes. The rapid flow of the model’s body in motion through time and space encourages me to follow and try to resurrect the dance on canvas. In the moment I seek abandonment and yet a captivity. I try not to think my way through the event but be the observer and act with feeling. This allows me freedom, playfulness and spontaneity that I do not think would be possible for me to achieve in my work otherwise.
It all begins with simple things that grow. I start with the gesture and let it evolve. I draw and paint directly on paper and canvas first using acrylic and oils, then applying sensual textures and thin transparent washes, and finally more intense layers of oil with a brush. This way I can feel the evolution and development of my painting and this is the way I deliver my interpretation of the moments I have directly experienced to those who see my art.
I’d like to think of myself as a conduit, a transmitter of the dancer’s energy to the viewer, the final receiver of the experience. This is how we can all share and feel connected. This is my way of finding what it means, this human experience. We, as humans, are all in different places at different times in our journeys. Every single one of us is strikingly unique; however we have have something extremely similar that bonds us together - we are all in search of the ever-elusive notion of what it means to be human. I believe that this common thing is what we all try to discover through art in forms of dance, music and literature. These are all different ways to get to the core of the same experience.
-Gary Welton
Artists are in a constant search for a means of expression that captures the essence of human experience; that thing we all share and call life. Finding the gesture, the moment and perspective from which people can see and appreciate the beauty of life is is of primary importance to me and has been my goal ever since I started making art. I have always had a keen interest in figurative work and studied the architecture and structure of the image in drawing, painting and sculpture. In 1990, I was inspired by my model’s dance movements. This resulted in a quick creation of a large painting on paper that was later transmitted onto canvas. Since then, I have always started work with a quick sketch to capture the dancer/model’s movements. This encourages a natural flow of energy in the work and the painting gains a greater resemblance of life. The more a model moves, the more abstract the painting becomes. The rapid flow of the model’s body in motion through time and space encourages me to follow and try to resurrect the dance on canvas. In the moment I seek abandonment and yet a captivity. I try not to think my way through the event but be the observer and act with feeling. This allows me freedom, playfulness and spontaneity that I do not think would be possible for me to achieve in my work otherwise.
It all begins with simple things that grow. I start with the gesture and let it evolve. I draw and paint directly on paper and canvas first using acrylic and oils, then applying sensual textures and thin transparent washes, and finally more intense layers of oil with a brush. This way I can feel the evolution and development of my painting and this is the way I deliver my interpretation of the moments I have directly experienced to those who see my art.
I’d like to think of myself as a conduit, a transmitter of the dancer’s energy to the viewer, the final receiver of the experience. This is how we can all share and feel connected. This is my way of finding what it means, this human experience. We, as humans, are all in different places at different times in our journeys. Every single one of us is strikingly unique; however we have have something extremely similar that bonds us together - we are all in search of the ever-elusive notion of what it means to be human. I believe that this common thing is what we all try to discover through art in forms of dance, music and literature. These are all different ways to get to the core of the same experience.
-Gary Welton