Dan Price

Untitled Triptec 48x56

Artist Statement: “Peace Amongst Bedlam”

While we are all part of the same system, we thrive in an unsystematic manner reflected by our movement. Even if our movements seem deliberate, we can’t control the effect. Things happen by chance. Our conscious reactions form based on accidents that we have no choice but to accept—that’s the grind.

Spontaneous anarchy is an oxymoron; we live our daily lives in the same manner—thrust into motion like shooting craps— calculated thoughts of centrifugal possibilities disguised as dice and a hapless throw of random motion spinning aimlessly toward a result that the shooter insured would happen. And we chalk it up to dumb luck? I don’t buy it. Likewise, paint may appear to hit canvas randomly, but if your movement of the medium relies on random action, structure still exists, which results in something both beautiful and absurd. I accept chaos and find peace in bedlam. My work is complex minimalism—the details are in the broad, gesture-like strokes scrawled across quadrilateral canvases—a shape I accept, not create.

Using collage methods of calm and robust textures transports the canvas into the Z axis. This, in turn, builds layers upon layers of images creating one complete work. Each image is not only a plane of color, but my worlds radiating from within me. I fear implosion—not collision. Papers, cloth, plaster, inks, and whatever piece of despicable garbage I can find function like a palette knife or sponge.

My inspirations, whether from photos or feelings, flashbacks or daydreams, are nihilist at best. My pride for the end result flourishes beyond measurable limits but takes a back seat to the journey within the equation that the painting endured … easily put—getting there is half the fun. The sarcastic and sardonic moments during the creation of a painting and the deeply moving sounds that sweep through the air as I work magnify those moments in which titles are made.

While creating a specific body of work, I am doing more than creating painting after painting. I am searching (more than working) to find my next artistic voice—all the while dealing the with accidental and deliberate disasters and attacks life deals me. I guess I’m yearning for resolution, so that my layers can be flattened into one cohesive self.

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