clay wainscott b44

Most fundamentally, I’m an abstract artist who utilizes the mechanism of recognition to bypass the first turnstile of perception, and ascend to conscious awareness. I choose an ordinary and typically unaccounted object from common memory, and by resonating against innate expectation, alert the attention each time it’s seen. In this way, the painting becomes a daily presence, regardless of its subject matter, instead of fading into the background.

I painted for forty years in one studio, while sampling a variety of occupations, with the thought that my work would become visible and relevant sometime in the future. My concern all along has been direct experience of tangible reality, and creating an image that becomes more substantial, even more ‘believable,’ when seen every day, as an avalanche of digital information flickers by.

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