Artist Statement

My paintings have been described as imaginative, improvisational, inventive, whimsical, and intuitive. I enjoy using my imagination to think about how things are or how things work. My art is a mingling of fabrication and form and driven by a desire to create meaning and beauty with paint. It is informed and nourished by listening to many hours of National Public Broadcasting, all forms of news and politics, reading, movies, travel, music, and of course, looking at art. I try to stay as well informed and as present in the world as I possibly can. This is what churns the engine of my imagination."

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I care very deeply about all the formal elements of art and how they come together in a composition, but the subject matter of my work I leave to the process of painting and start each and every one by making something out of nothing. I am an intuitive painter who relies on a process that is visually directed and which leads to the finished piece. I have no idea of the painting I am about to start, and until the very last moment of conviction, have no certainty that it will remain in the form that is in front of me. Through a very long series of moves, i.e. changes, cancellations, and additions, an idea unfolds. It is an exhausting process, but it keeps a forward-moving momentum to my work. My goal is to try to create a strong formal composition that is emotionally available, and where the image comes through the paint. There is a certain level of ambiguity in the work, allowing the viewer to interpret the content or meaning. I believe this is the best way for me to arrive at authenticity, and to surprise myself each time. When I respond viscerally, when I get a frisson, then I know I am moving in the right direction. I am searching for psychic energy and trying to make sense out of something enigmatic, organizing bits of dreams, memory, imagination, worldly concerns, and ethereal elements. In the end, I hope it is about an unseen essence and an existential beauty.

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~ Selene Santucci