PAGESPaintings by Frank Cressotti
Jan. 31st - March 10, 2022HELD OVER through March 24th!Gallery talk - Thursday Feb. 17, 9:30amHours: Mon - Thurs. 10am-5pm (during regular school sessions)COVID protocols are in place https://www.hcc.edu/about/covid-19/visitors
Artist’s Statement
Several years ago I was making mostly figurative paintings. A regular feature of the painting process involved the use of newspaper as a blotting agent. The newspaper pages used for blotting were saved and re-used. Over time I found I had several stacks of blotting paper. These pages became interesting in themselves as painted surfaces. I discovered I liked the way the newspaper accepted the paint. I began to work with these pages, expecting that they had possibilities in a painterly direction. I liked the idea that their visual impact resulted purely as a function of the painting process. I tried to keep the structure of the painting simple. The idea was to let the paintings develop on their own as much as possible, with me driving the action. The paint would take care of itself. My responsibilities would be to stay busy with the working process, and pay attention to the moment by moment changes on the painting surface. I selected a few simple formats, without trying to premise specific resolutions. Periodically I would review the many pages that had resulted from this activity. I would occasionally select a page that seemed to have a certain presence. It was almost always a surprise to discover such a page. Since this was a new experience, I felt I was always trying to catch up with the pages. I had to learn a new aesthetic.
The more I handled the pages the more I found myself aware of the material nature of each page. The paper was delicate, flexible, and light weight. I was used to working with larger stretched canvases, or heavy paper mounted on large drawing boards. Just moving them around was becoming a physical struggle, especially as I was working in a confined space. But, the pages were worked freely, without being stretched. I could proceed from page to page easily. The only practical problem was finding enough flat space for them to dry between applications of paint. I had to use floor space in the house away from the studio.
The flatness of the picture plain was a focal point of studying painting in the sixties. I had taught that principle, and I firmly believed in it. But, with repeated handling of the pages I realized the fact of flatness. I further realized that no matter how much effort I made per page, there was only a skin of paint separating the viewer from the paper surface. Another reality was the newspaper, itself. I never looked for content or narrative in the paintings, but I was constantly engaged with the print copy: news, sports, advertizements, obituaries, recipes, graphics. I could not escape the fact that my personal reality as a painter was connected in some way with the reality of the news. And, the news was people.
The paintings themselves would always be about the process that produced them. But, I could not ignore my place in the community.
