Robert Saltonstall
Currently studying Painting & Printmaking at VCU, Robert Saltonstall moved back to Richmond after attending Pratt Institute for Art to begin his creative career. He describes his work as focusing on "mutable relationship between man and nature, intellect and emotion, individual and community. Space is created formally and flattened by acknowledging materiality. The large forms merge landscape and figure aggressively. They converge and emerge from and into one another; constantly in a state of metamorphosis. The canvas becomes a meeting place between man, his environment and the abstraction of thought whether it is for conflict or confluence. Imagery is slowly articulated and swiftly disturbed by intuitive mark-making. Process, material and illusion are in constant opposition. The painting is a product of a thought process both praising and demeaning itself."
Mary Sowers
The themes in my work have to do with psychological implosions, which are inherently human. We live in a time where there is great chaos surrounding each individual. Not only are we surrounded by personal stress we can visibly see and cognitively recognize; we are also constricted by things we cannot see. To add to that, we are also strained by the troubles we create for ourselves. These themes of overwhelming personal, emotional, and physical stress circulate in and out of everyday life. These works are representative of that.
The traditional facets of drawing are important to me and central to the work. The anatomy of each individual painting involves a careful selection of layers and drawings consisting of varying weight, balance, and texture. There are conflicting areas of light and dark, quiet and noise, intensity and dullness. This is an association with disorder encompassing any given individual living in the present day and the force of such tension.
FIRST FRIDAYS: JUNE 3, 2011 5:00pm-2:00am
EXHIBITION CONTINUES THROUGH: JUNE 25, 2011
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