Untitled

Abstract

Artist's statement: "Untitled (Political Painting) continues my exploration of space, color, form, and process. The painting is an acrylic on canvas that measures four by three feet and was completed on March 8, 2016. The painting depicts ambiguous, geometric forms in a believable space with a singular light source and reflective ground plane. Choices of form straddle between the imaginative and the real. Color and compositional arrangement aid compositional balance. Blues and greens in the bottom half of the composition mirror the red and oranges in the top half. The hovering arrows point down to draw the viewer’s eyes to the center of the composition as the grounded forms point toward a singular form. This singular form represents uniqueness, freedom, and authority because its form is not repeated and defies gravity. Inspired by Philip Guston’s hood figures, the cone-like forms are intentionally phallic and finger-like. The phallic represents a lack of intellect; the singular finger is the act of pointing. Thus, the cone-like forms mindlessly and literally point the viewer’s eyes around the canvas. While important to the composition, the space and forms feels overly descriptive. This leads to the question of how to develop the space and forms with less information."

This is a digital photograph of Dylan Boutwell's painting. It was submitted as an assignment in the spring 2016 Intermediate/Advanced Painting class taught by Professor Erin Harmon.