clay wainscott b44

Most fundamentally, I’m an abstract artist who utilizes the mechanism of recognition to ascend to conscious awareness. I choose an ordinary and typically unaccounted object from common memory, and by provoking and defying expectation, alert the attention each time it’s seen. In this way, the painting will eventually become a daily presence, regardless of subject, instead of fading into the background.

I painted for forty years in one studio, while sampling a variety of occupations, always with the thought that my work would become relevant one day. My concern all along has been direct experience of tangible reality, and the creation of an image that over time becomes more substantial, even more ‘believable,’ as today’s avalanche of ephemeral visual information flickers by.

I reduce primary colors to transparency, and apply in layers, with secondary colors mixing on the canvas back to front, imparting a saturated luminescence. Foundations are assembled in the studio using archival techniques. I offer my work solely based on its face value, since no official market value has been established. I will note that essential qualities of these paintings cannot be reproduced, and my work has proven immediately identifiable across a wide range of genres.