I always thought that one of the reasons why a painter likes especially to have other painters look at his or her work is the shared experience of having pushed paint around.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
It is not an aesthetic misstep to make the viewer aware of the paint and the painter's hand. Such an empathetic awareness lies at the heart of aesthetic appreciation.
I've heard that many fine artists have to turn their 'finished' paintings to face the wall - otherwise, every time they walk past, they are tempted to pick up a brush and make small adjustments here and there.
Well, one always has an instinct to be a painter, and I've done quite a lot of painting at one time or another, though not with any public success.
Painting is a coalescing of experience.
Our experience of any painting is always the latest line in a long conversation we've been having with painting. There's no way of looking at art as though you hadn't seen art before.
I have always wanted to make paintings that are impossible to walk past, paintings that grab and hold your attention. The more you look at them, the more satisfying they become for the viewer. The more time you give to the painting, the more you get back.
Painters hate having to explain what their work is about. They always say, 'It's whatever you want it to be' - because I think that's their intention, to connect with each person's subconscious, and not to try and dictate.
It doesn't make much difference how the paint is put on as long as something has been said. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement.
The truth is that painting is all about scale; you use scale to create experience. A lot of artists have lost that ability. They don't even know that's something they should be doing.
I believe the reason I love painting so much is that it forces one to be objective.