It is common for an artist to be asked to explain their work, and naturally it is quite difficult. For me I will say that my knowledge of being an artist was my very first thought and the only way I defined myself when I reflected upon who I was and what I would be. I have never had another understanding besides this. I could reflect upon the past and how it's influences shaped the direction of my work~however I am a painter who looks only at what tomorrow can be. This is not to say I disregard history~rather that I see it as a continuum which is ever advancing in it's form. Like the narrative of paintings and the process of painting itself, it builds upon itself and points towards something which is ever changing and not static.

My work is based highly on the process rather than the preconception. So this is to say that my interest comes in the moment when the brush touches the canvas~and does not wane until the piece is complete. It is for this reason I work on a piece directly until I know it is finished~allowing only for the brief periods of time the paint needs to set.

The direction my work has taken over the past ten years is one of increasing abstraction and complexity. By complexity I mean the extent to which the paintings have developed, although abstracted somewhat, still continue to hold narrative. And while I have become more refined in my technique I am more in love with the pure application of paint than ever.

First of all, the very texture and build of the paint and its plasticity lends itself to discovery. Second to this is the narrative form I have taken in my work~which is to say the projection of nature and it's effect upon me ~ shows in the paintings. There are innumerable elements in nature, which are profound enough to lend themselves to conceptualism. I use these concepts and symbols in nature and translate them into a vehicle of visual language. I have been described as a colorist, a magical realist, an expressionist, a symbolist, and an abstract realist.

©2001 Wendy Bantam