Deconstructed Abstract Art

Many times, beauty is found when the old is revealed only but the removal of the new.  Consider the beauty of old restored buildings where old walls are revealed by the removal of plaster or an exterior façade.  A similar analogy would be architectural remnants of ancient structures having been discovered after being hidden for centuries.  The accumulated effects of time and change, combined with random evidence of the removed surfaces, create a patina that can’t be duplicated. 

These paintings involve stretching gessoed canvas over a raised wooden substrate.  The wood support allows each canvas to be “abused” as layers of paint, charcoal, pastels or other mediums are successively applied and then removed using scrapers, knives, sanders and chemicals.  Surfaces are embossed and built-up using a variety of repurposed tools. 

Eventually the desired impression is achieved…a painting of layered depths with subtle shading and a patina that, upon renewed up-close inspection, shows the clues of its creative process. 

Finally, the completed painting is removed from the wooden support and re-wrapped over a slightly smaller heavy-duty conventional gallery-depth stretcher frame.  A surprising benefit of this process is that what had been the facing perimeter of the painting now becomes the seamless and continuous revealed edge of the framed art.