Some Progress

Some photos of the senior show

Bill Pariso's work and artist statement all together

Erick Knudtson's work and artist statement in one image

My work is both, an examination and reflection on how society’s values and active norms influence ideas about truth. By truth I mean to encompass: what is moral, what is perceivable, what is reality, etc. Through my work, I examine society and the human, which make up the whole. I also search to unearth the extent society plays in the construction of my identity. The examination and questioning of societal and individual subjective values are integral in the search for an objective truth. I must break through both ideological and subjective thought in order to obtain objective truth, which I realize is possibly unobtainable.

In my investigation, I must look first into my perception of the world around me, my humor, thought processes and my ideas about life and death. Since my concerns deal with life and its surroundings, it is logical for me to be interested in portraying naturalism. However, I am not interested in forming an entirely naturalistic composition or figure. I represent subjective truth by altering the skin tones of the figures in my paintings from that which is normally perceived. This is my mode of commenting on perception’s intangible qualities.

In addition, my process directly influences the scale of my work. I consider myself most comfortable with an approximate life-size scale due to the mark a particular brush size makes and the room it allows for blending the paint. I work on my image in a single obsessive compulsive, ala prima application until I feel that the particular portion is completed. In some cases, the image may be painted with full realization and in others the image is painted then destroyed by smearing the paint or by dripping turpenoid, making the paint run. I use these different styles to show how certain figures in the paintings reject fallacious societal values and the blurring represents their denial leading to transcending those values.