Greg Ferrand: Experience

Washington, DC, artist, Greg Ferrand, continues my recent project by writing about "experience." As usual, I extend an invitation to all local artists who would like to participate in this effort. Just email me!

That's Life
Acrylic on Canvas
24" x 24"
2004

Greg Ferrand: Experience

Experience…

As artists we all struggle to reflect on our own unique relationship with “life.” That relationship dictates what medium is used to translate our life experiences into a language that others can understand, or learn, or reject as gibberish.

Many years ago after reading Twain, Hesse, Salinger, Steinbeck, Kerouac and later Dostoevsky, Cortazar, Bulgakov, Marquez, I naively set out to “build” my life experiences. Travel and a willingness to be saturated by anything and everything were the keys to proper “building.” While focusing on the external experiences I was likely to have, I was not prepared for the internal experiences that resulted from such a reckless pursuit of life. Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, I realized that home was not such a bad place to be and one doesn’t need to go far to experience living.

As I said, that was all years ago and seems a bit idealistic and quite comical now. I’ve come to the belief that life is a series of dark and light spots of varying lengths, in a constant push-pull and cyclical in nature. The light we try to sustain and the dark we attempt to avoid, but without either, life is meaningless. Through painting, I strive to capture the experience of living and therefore understand it a little more. Some may be put-off by the cartoonish nature of my paintings, but if one looks closely, they will see narratives gently unmasking the psychological or emotional state of people and situations that do, have, and will exist.

Experience slowly drips onto my palate.

Everything's just fine... really
Acrylic on Canvas
22" x 28"
2004

Previous Posts:

Charles Neenan: Tradition
Kelly Towles: Color
Ryan Mulligan: Originality
Matt Hollis: Confinement
Dean Fueroghne: Originality
James W. Bailey: Obligation
J. Coleman: Depiction
Andy Moon Wilson: Decision
Molly Springfield: Language
Bryan Whitson: Scene
Elyse Harrison: Motivation
Jiha Moon Wilson: Influence
Alexandra Silverthorne: Derivative
Jose Ruiz: Contemporary
Kathleen Shafer: Focus
Jennifer McMackon: Connection
Gregg Chadwick: Responsibility
Warren Craghead: Material
Angela Kleis: Purpose
Peter Reginato: Order
Anna L. Conti: Community
Wayne Schoenfeld: Content
Elizabeth Morisette: Naive
Tim Tate: Craft
Jesse Cohen: Hidden