Artist's Statement
About Fluid Style
by David Berry
Several of my paintings have a “fluid style.” Applying paint so that pigments appear to flow into place naturally provides a dimension or micro-world as an underlying structure for the subject of the painting. From a distance, a macro-world perspective, there is an obvious image, but up close there is an experience of some other world that seems unrelated. Even so, the two worlds are integrated. Both have a sense of simultaneous destabilization and tangibility. In this way I try to bring your attention to the illusion and the reality. I have never felt that the illusionary world and the reality of God are clearly defined by a threshold or a boarder land; rather they co-exist with equal obviousness. At any given moment, depending on our state of mind and the influence of the world around us, we see some more of one side or the other. In a way our perception shifts between various dimensions in the matrix of folds within the illusion and the reality. The kaleidoscope of experience has a wholeness that is the illusion, but within the facets are reflections of the reality. Each of us have a different view of the crystal of human existence from which we see a different impression of the illusion, but the hints of reality that shine through are virtually all the same.
I have developed many devices to give paintings momentum, and thus have a kaleidoscopic and dimensional quality. The paintings will have physically different interaction with light (color “overtones” and shadows) depending on the time of day, direction of light, type of light and viewing distance. To discover these dynamic qualities, I encourage you to view the “fluid” paintings from across the room, very close and at different times when the lighting is altered.
The dynamic and abstract qualities are designed to give the impression that the painting is more a moment in time instead of a static form. There is a feeling that the surface could ebb and flow into some other image or abstraction - and a minute or hour ago the scene could have been something else entirely, like watching shapes come and go in the clouds.
For nearly four years I have struggled to develop this technique, but it has not been until I painted at The Center that I began to appreciate the instinctive forces that drew me to that style. In fact, I kept moving away from it from time to time because it is not commercial and has an intrinsic lack of control that makes it difficult to build a clean and descriptive image. Now, with spiritual intent, the very destabilization that is implied has become an objective in my art.
About Faith
Faith leads us in a particular direction, and art can be a compass to point the way.
About Spiritual Painting
The source of art is a singular essence, and painting is a means of sharing spiritual vistas.
About Fluid Style
My own style reflects the fragile and incomplete nature of our understanding of reality.
About Other Styles
An artist develops style by exploring art of the past, and new art is judged by the legacy of what has gone before.
About Evocation
At the very core the purpose of art is to evoke some inner feeling or memory.
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