Artist's Statement
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| Photo: Art Bell |
In these paintings I have been concerned with looking at ordinary things and trying to make images of them. I have not been concerned with finding especially pleasing or interesting subjects. I have painted whatever has attracted my attention. Maybe the themes select themselves — one finds oneself drawn to certain subject matter for some reason that is not always known or clear. I have found myself making images of roads, road signs, tractor-trailers and gas stations as well as pastoral subjects.
In part I am interested in the way in which biomorphic, 'natural' phenomena interact with 'man-made' angular forms; the way a road moves through landscape, the way a trailer sits in a clearing in the woods; the places where the country gives way to the city, the city to the country.
In doing this I have drawn inspiration chiefly from English and French nineteenth century landscape painters especially from the Norwich and Barbizon schools. Both these were known for painting directly from nature, attempting to portray apparent reality in a naturalistic way. I have tried to paint what I see with equal reverence, trying not to discriminate between objects that seem Êsthetically pleasing on the one hand and those that do not.
In making the paintings I have tried to be guided as much by the feeling that arises while painting as by any idea of how the painting should appear. Especially when the feeling arising is 'open, spacious and relaxed' and the mind is free of concept, I have felt myself to be on the 'right track', while being on no track at all. The point is to be in a position where something is working through the maker of the painting and the maker is acting as a kind of conduit rather than as an actor. Sometimes the feeling that arises is like a kind of 'grace'. One is tuning into a frequency that is latent. This frequency contains within it what it means to be alive. It is for this reason I feel that genuine art attracts people. It is a kind of food, a source of sustenance.
My hope would be that this art would bring joy to people and a deeper sense of meaning to the lives they lead.
Peter Fried