The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way. Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion - all in one. (John Ruskin) My view of painting is perhaps naively a-historical. For me the remarkable thing about painting is how little it has changed since the stone age – it seems to be an essential human activity. Each painter, in whatever age, tries to extract from life, and embody in their work, the deepest kinds of meaning accessible to them. I am working within a tradition of painting which is based on the discipline of looking. Far from this tradition being 'exhausted', maybe we have barely begun to look. The invention of photography makes it all the more necessary (and perhaps harder, too) to look with our own eyes. At the same time as this purely visual preoccupation, my choice of subject-matter is guided by the desire to translate and communicate my 'inner text' (Bridget Riley's term) through composition in light and colour. Ruskin's words sum up my aim as a painter - to "tell what I see" through the medium of painting as truthfully and completely as I can. Andrew Paterson 2007 |
| Email : | art@andrewpatersonart.com | These works are for screen viewing only. If you are interested in using them in any other way, please contact me first. |
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