Artist Statement
Edward Harsen
This graphic portion of my work explores how meaning is a thing created, and how such creation can only come from perceptual confusion. This carries a distinct viewpoint on creativity and is couched in the language of phenomenology: I follow the artists’ caveat that there is “no truth but in things.” The content of the work employs the processes surrounding a visual grammar and perception. Elements of the paintings inform other elements in a definition of the whole: color transparency, substrate textures, and layering through the use of various size squeegees enable the images to refer to a variety of styles, including block print, screen print, impressionist, and symbolist methods. My intention is to challenge providence. I believe a reframing of the methods of perception, and the activity of the collapse of confusion will interest most educators: primary and secondary humanities, corporate training and development, and special education teachers. Visual artists are a primary audience for the work, as it deals with aesthetic and the embedding of emotion in art pieces. My paintings explore the context, grammar and syntax involved in seeing. The majority of these works show how the use of a squeegee to render representative forms influences our emotional approach to novel phenomena.
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