“Winter Garden” – Artist Statement
A Comment on Abstract Expressionism
After producing 6 series of Seascapes photographed at the shore of the Atlantic Ocean in Rockaway Beach, Queens, NYC from 1996 to the present, I turned my camera to a lovely garden, also in Rockaway Beach during the winter of 2023.
My Seascapes series were photographed during all seasons and all times of day, and share a minimalist aesthetic, exploring the most basic elements of composition, contrasting light, texture and form.
The winter of 2023 was unusually mild which gave me the opportunity to visit the garden on overcast days when the light was soft and seemingly filtered…enabling the camera to find the lively colors and shapes within the dormant shrubs.
Using Jackson Pollack as my inspiration, I adjusted my camera settings, and along with the winter breezes, the objective was to produce images that incorporate energy and motion, as in Pollack’s Expressionistic “all-over” method of painting; an art form that avoids any distinct points of emphasis and uses vivid colors to convey the artist’s subjective emotional response to the subject.