Artist Statement
My current work is based on an appropriation
of the photojournalistic image. I think of it as journalistic painting.
A photograph in a newspaper or a magazine doesn’t last long enough.
I want to increase the longevity of the memory by putting it into oil
paint.
Irony is popular in the art world at the moment. I am coming at painting
from a different angle. I simply want to paint the emotions, to objectively
witness the events captured by the photographer’s lens through my
own filter. To present the moment in a medium that has more permanence.
I find the contrast between the ugly truth and the beautiful paint to
be as compelling to me as the tendency of societies to engage in a kind
of collective amnesia is disturbing.
The choice to work in miniature encourages a closer examination of the
subject at hand. A small painting draws the viewer into it’s world.
When I paint, I enter into a micro-reality sometimes using a magnifying
lens. The denser the paint, the smaller the support, the more potent the
image becomes. Formally, the scale choice allows for a greater expressiveness
in the brushwork for this particular artist at this particular moment.
contact Lopi: ipol@lopilaroe.com