clay wainscott, b44

Visual art enters the nervous system on different channels than speech, and requires no translation. The movement of art at the time I entered was toward the unique and individual, while I had more interest in finding what was basic and universal. I begin with a mundane object everyone already has filed in memory, and create an image that resonates against their subconscious expectation, in the manner of a jazz improvisation on a familiar melody. Rather than prosaic realism, the objective is an enhanced believability arising from shared experience.

Over the years I’ve worked for time-clock wages up to product design, all the while maintaining a studio and continuing to paint. I’ve always portrayed the direct perception of a tangible reality — there’s no metaphor, no narrative, no literary content of any kind.

My approach to acrylic has been exploratory, and influenced by early screen-process printing experience. Single primary colors are reduced to transparency and applied in layers, with secondary colors mixing on the canvas, back to front. Foundations are studio-built.