Texture in Art

Earlier in the week, I was paging through a back issue of American Art Review, and happened upon an ad for a Clark Hulings exhibition and sale entitled Timeless Beauty: Pursuing Life's Textures. Since quilting and textile art is all about textures, I was delighted with this thought. This is what I do, summed up nicely. (As to whether what I create is timeless beauty is another issue, of course!) Photos of paintings in this exhibit and sale can be seen here. He made a bundle off this. But to be honest with you, I wasn't seeing much "texture" in the photos, and am guessing that part of the idea of the theme is a bit of play on words. Either that, or the actual texture of his paintings does not get picked up in these photos.

A few pages farther in this magazine brought me to another ad, this time for Tim Bell, which featured a maritime scene with oil applied so thickly that its texture was obvious even in the photo. (Rafted Skipjacks above.) I remember my surprise the first time I viewed an oil painting up close. I wasn't prepared to see brushstrokes and dimension. I guess I thought all paintings were flat like watercolors and prints.

My pursuit of texture did not end there. A few more pages and I was confronted by a work by Raffaele D'Onofrio called Invisible Green, seen here on his home page. This just as easily could be fabric embellished with ribbons instead of the actual medium of oil & vinyl. I was particularly interested in his artist's statement which in part says: "Lost in most nature-inspired work is the feeling of entanglement, the mind and eye weaving and swerving through the convergence and dissipation of form. The melting solidity of light catching and releasing itself as it crisscrosses around you." Here's another one of his works, Deep Forest, that looks like it could be an entangled textile piece.

Finally, my eyes fell upon Michael S. Korney's ad, not so much because of texture, but because of its glowing colors. (Carpinteria Sunset #14 seen at right.) And so I had to laugh when I read his statement: "I paint to...merge the emotional and physical worlds and to reproduce those intangible moments of memory, such as the glow of a sunset or the motion of water. Although my paintings are realistic images, my goal is to evoke a strong emotional connection for the viewer." I'd say, he definitely succeeded with me.