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Michael St. Amand: Statement


Michael St Amand

When images, identifiable forms, even icons in the paintings and constructs are addressed, the viewer will naturally associate what they determine the object to be with their own definition of that object. This results in their own -very personal- reactionary emotion. Whether it is hatred or shock, or passion or compassion, every person will create his or her own truth- now attached to the work.

This is what much of my work speaks to: the human condition. How we as humans can interpret an image drastically different from one another depending on a host of influences- being their personal faith or lack-there-of, their personal history, their current situation in life, any number of things can and will influence how they experience the work.

What I do, ultimately, is take my own experiences and let them fill up "the tank," so to speak, and then I expel them by rebuilding what I find to be the truth of the matter, onto the canvas, or into a construct, drawing, or digital piece. I do this to invoke thought, and to inspire analysis. What inevitably transpires can be anything from reactionary rage to euphoric bliss- it's up to the viewer.

For me, on the deepest level, the importance of the work reaches beyond the perceived meaning and lies in the
process. The process is at the core, the heart, and is the basic language of the work. From the raw construction of the canvas, to painting the initial base layer- one of what could be 20-30 layers by the time the painting is finished, to living with the work and adjusting and readjusting it until...it just doesn't hurt anymore: the process is what regularly inspires me. When I can sit in comfort with the piece, I know it's completed. When it's completed, I start again. The process never ends.

Concerning the world, and the human race, all of us- my work can be used as a tool, as art should be used, to examine the truth of ones self and the truth of their surroundings. Whether it is a perceived truth or actual truth, which there may or may not be a great difference between the two, the act of self-analysis through the engagement of viewing art is always enlightening. My work is created to do just that.

Michael St. Amand

Deutsch: Statement des Kuenstlers

 



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