Artist's Statement
by Steve Sherrell
I have been making art as a serious artist for close to half a century. I began painting when Andy Warhol was painting portraits of Marilyn Monroe, and I have never stopped moving. I consider art a challenge of discovery, a test of skill. I studied with hard-edge painters, conceptualists and Chicago Imagists. As an artist I am still exploring.
For those reasons an all-encompassing artist’s statement is very difficult. But I will try.
When I was a young artist I had a dream. I was in a huge exhibition of paintings, hundreds of paintings, even thousands, hanging one after one. As I looked at them, I looked at each one closely and each was complete, and they were all done by me. That is when I realized that I would never run out of ideas for new work. But the dream also exposed something I have had to embrace knowing it would be trouble for me as an artist: that is; I have never stayed with a signature style. But my desire to learn new things and explore over weighs the rewards of doing the same work that people quickly know me by.
I was talking with a teacher in the 70’s, a famous conceptual artist, who said while looking at a large painting I was working on “You can take that painting anywhere in the city you want and show it, but there is something in your studio that you are working on that you are unsure of, that is a different direction altogether. Keep those pieces and do not dismiss them. They are your work also.” (as remembered)
Recently, a group of paintings I have been working called back classic modernist paintings with a twist. Certain styles have been forgotten or not fully explored. I thought it might be interesting to take on the task of redoing certain styles from the standpoint of the 21st century. They are not necessarily revisionist, but they do use stylistic devices found in mid-century abstract art. They are mixed media. For those reasons they are postmodern, riffing off the past (or ripping if your intent is to criticize me) LOL. Some of these are designed on the computer and some are done completely spontaneously. I also continue to work digitally, doing large computer created pieces.
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
TS Eliot- “Little Gidding”
by Steve Sherrell
I have been making art as a serious artist for close to half a century. I began painting when Andy Warhol was painting portraits of Marilyn Monroe, and I have never stopped moving. I consider art a challenge of discovery, a test of skill. I studied with hard-edge painters, conceptualists and Chicago Imagists. As an artist I am still exploring.
For those reasons an all-encompassing artist’s statement is very difficult. But I will try.
When I was a young artist I had a dream. I was in a huge exhibition of paintings, hundreds of paintings, even thousands, hanging one after one. As I looked at them, I looked at each one closely and each was complete, and they were all done by me. That is when I realized that I would never run out of ideas for new work. But the dream also exposed something I have had to embrace knowing it would be trouble for me as an artist: that is; I have never stayed with a signature style. But my desire to learn new things and explore over weighs the rewards of doing the same work that people quickly know me by.
I was talking with a teacher in the 70’s, a famous conceptual artist, who said while looking at a large painting I was working on “You can take that painting anywhere in the city you want and show it, but there is something in your studio that you are working on that you are unsure of, that is a different direction altogether. Keep those pieces and do not dismiss them. They are your work also.” (as remembered)
Recently, a group of paintings I have been working called back classic modernist paintings with a twist. Certain styles have been forgotten or not fully explored. I thought it might be interesting to take on the task of redoing certain styles from the standpoint of the 21st century. They are not necessarily revisionist, but they do use stylistic devices found in mid-century abstract art. They are mixed media. For those reasons they are postmodern, riffing off the past (or ripping if your intent is to criticize me) LOL. Some of these are designed on the computer and some are done completely spontaneously. I also continue to work digitally, doing large computer created pieces.
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
TS Eliot- “Little Gidding”