Wendy Skog

After studying the genre of abstract painting developed in New York during the 40's and 50's, I was able to ruin many canvases in my attempt to liberate color from form. My artistic development was greatly enhanced by attending the prestigious Emma Lake and Triangle Artists' workshops. After a decade of formalist abstract painting, I was much inspired by some Monet drawings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since then I have worked to incorporate the elegance of line drawing into my color field paintings.

My current work is an effort to express the intelligence of the mind boundlessly in the medium of acrylic on canvas. My subject is simply the spirit, energy, confusion, surprise, excitement, tragedy, unpredictability, drama, and innocence we have collectively experienced through the historic inching of our way through time. The work draws from the vulnerability and consciousness gained through these experiences without their graphic portrayal. I have also been inspired by life to improvise on contrast incorporating the violent and disturbing as well as the excruciatingly beautiful, the man made hard straight edges but also the pastoral curves, stark urban ugliness and voluptuousness, childlike playfulness and black despair. I am moved to respond to contemporary times lyrically in movement, mood, and intensity. (July 2005)

Parameters - 2005
acrylic on canvas, 26 in x 39 in