I paint because doing so fulfills and completes me. I believe that an abstract artist faces the most difficult challenge in that there is no guide or model to use as a reference point. Often it must come from the mind of the artist. My hope is that my work will evoke an emotion or feeling that will inspire and excite those that are exposed to it. My inspiration originates from both within and outside the external world in which I live.
My focus is to create works which coordinate both form and colour and also a desire to reveal and enhance inherent movement within each piece. I prefer to work on large canvases because as an abstract painter I believe they allow for a larger scope in which to express the “Push and Pull “ dynamic that is a central element in each of my paintings. Working with large canvases, I prefer to use the floor and a large raised platform that I have built exclusively for the way the that I work rather than an easel. I like to use tools to apply paint to the canvas that we find and use in our everyday lives – tools which both enable and obstruct flow.
Therefore, my approach with the acrylic medium is varied. I will not only use traditional tools such as brushes and knives in creating art but I will often use sticks, squeegees, trowels and anything else which will allow me to guide and manipulate the paint on the canvas. I also enjoy using pouring techniques when I want to create more of an uninhibited sense of flow and then will often utilize tools in order to render a series of sharper and more defined edges to convey a sense of structure within the movement.
I begin each piece with an open vision and allow my sense of feeling to guide how colours and shapes interact on the canvas. I never am entirely sure of the final result. There is however an instinctive feeling that lets me know when the piece is done. Once I have a general vision for a work, I work quickly allowing the paints to interact and move on the canvas – flowing, colliding, and merging. It is always exciting and often completely unpredictable. Each painting evolves and takes on its own evolution from beginning to end.
Kim Maksimowski
October 2017