Terry Winters

Love this artists' work.  I won't proclaim to know much about him but there is definitely the element of ordering and systems.  Also one word to describe his mark-making is "gauche" - but not (profound, I know!).  Anyways, I think sometimes his paintings seem heavy-handed, seem to feel labored over, but not to the point of being self-conscious.  The prints don't do that though (the element of removal in the printmaking process?)

What I thoroughly enjoy are all the layers that can be sifted through, the sense of the microscopic, as if we get to see the invisible threads that hold our world in place.  But I think his work is thoroughly grounded in what Is, rather than idealized or romanticized.  And though I know he draws from nature and the world around us, I like the impression that his objects are familiar because of their resemblance rather than through their explicit representation of something.  I am reminded of fractals, of light through trees, of cellular organisms, and of the net of interaction that they are involved with- players in a drama, perhaps.  Repetition is obviously part and parcel of his work, again another element found in nature (that is what a fractal is after all).   Anyway, this is an artist that I regularly look at and always come away feeling good about painting.  The tactility, the imperfection and labor (as in the growth of the painting) becomes something I can get involved with and I always get a rush from.  Seems like a somewhat selfish reason to look at his work, but hey, it's my drug of choice.  At some point I want to post work that I hate and let it rip, but that's for another day! Hope you enjoy, please feel free to post a comment.