Negative Capability Artist Statement
When I first heard the idea of calling this show "Negative Capability," I was unsure how it would come across to our audience, the word negative being so, well, "negative."However, when you consider it—juxtaposing it against the word "capability," feels both familar and recognizable, especially in the year 2025. The phrase is taken from a letter by John Keats and discusses remaining in doubt without reaching for reason. There is discomfort in that, as well as beauty, I have found this last year. Living with uncertainty is part of life, and especially the life of an artist. My work in this show explores the visceral, emotional spaces found between what is known and what remains mysterious.
Through a mix of abstract expressionism and suggestive landscapes, these paintings capture moments of uncertainty. Layers of color and texture collide and merge, mirroring the messy, non-linear nature of our shared human experience. "One World" compares the similarities and variances between sea and sky with an unsettling calm. "Misty City" brings chaos so close it must be a choice. The layered, painted glass in "Impact" reminds us not to take everything at face value. Bold colors, shapes, and strokes in "Memory of Music" float above sheet music, as if trying to recreate a song heard once, long ago. "Still Breath" prompts us to live in this moment, now, here, while we can.
These paintings invite you to shed the need for resolution and step into the vibrant, beautiful uncertainty of the present moment. They are an attempt to see, and to celebrate, the world not as a problem to be solved, but as a perpetual, vivid mystery.
Through a mix of abstract expressionism and suggestive landscapes, these paintings capture moments of uncertainty. Layers of color and texture collide and merge, mirroring the messy, non-linear nature of our shared human experience. "One World" compares the similarities and variances between sea and sky with an unsettling calm. "Misty City" brings chaos so close it must be a choice. The layered, painted glass in "Impact" reminds us not to take everything at face value. Bold colors, shapes, and strokes in "Memory of Music" float above sheet music, as if trying to recreate a song heard once, long ago. "Still Breath" prompts us to live in this moment, now, here, while we can.
These paintings invite you to shed the need for resolution and step into the vibrant, beautiful uncertainty of the present moment. They are an attempt to see, and to celebrate, the world not as a problem to be solved, but as a perpetual, vivid mystery.