An artist is also a creator, and the joy of creation is always present while you are working. To create something new, to bring something out of the void which previously did not exist, is the most important thing an artist can do. In creating my paintings I incorporate realism into abstraction in a way that captures a figure’s movement and emotional power. It is to take a phenomena of the external world, in this case the human figure, and make reference to it or part of it in a painting. Hands in particular convey an aspect of corporeality and realistic expression. I will analyze a figure and then dissect various parts of its structure until I find the image I am looking for. These parts of a painting may be depicted through sweeping brushstrokes, while some are painted using measured controlled strokes, and still others are painted in an almost automatic, free-form way. All of these together combine to give me the emotion and movement I am looking for in a painting. A controlled frenzy that imparts a sensory feeling of movement and expression contained within a still image.
In addition to the way in which the paint is applied, I consider the line of the painting as equally important. I will let a lot of the drawing and underpainting show through in a work. A painting is just that, a painting, and I like to leave evidence of its making. Evidence of the expression of the hand through line and through brush.
Joseph Ray York