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LAST DAYS
Exhibition: January 3 - February 9, 2008
Opening: January 3, 6 - 8 p.m.
"Saturday after" artist talk: January 5, 12:00
Click on an image below to see available work:
Darren Waterston frequently paints on wooden panels, canvas and paper in an "old master" style. He begins with a chalk-based gesso that is applied in several coats. This gives him a surface that can be manipulated to be smooth or distressed, depending on the image. The images are then fashioned from many different paint materials including traditional oil pigments, encaustics, varnishes, tree saps and plant resins, as well as acidic materials which eat through the glazing to expose previously painted surfaces. His knowledge of traditional painting techniques gives the work a well-crafted quality even as his surface may appear decayed or timeworn.
The inspiration for much of his work comes from the artist’s interest and knowledge of arcane sciences, widely varied religious and philosophical beliefs (both Eastern and Western), and a romantic feel for the history of painting.
It is this romantic side of the artist that provides the stimulus for his work and lifestyle. Waterston creates work which reveals a keen observance of nature coupled with a fascination for academic knowledge of natural science. Whether painting a swarm of moths, hummingbirds in flight, decaying floral vegetation, silhouettes of treetops against a moody sky, a dandelion gone to seed, or a mist veiled landscape from another time, Waterston makes use of his painterly virtuosity as well as his ability to combine a rich array of images and phenomena.
He also manages, through the use of this elegiac imagery and archaic technique, to make a contemporary comment on several levels. The traumatized surface, painted scars and stigmatizing sores and pustules seem mindful of the age of plague in which we live. The masses of invented or perhaps extinct vegetation suggest that our culture is living under a delusion of natural grandiosity. The menacing birds, astral formations, and decaying landscape remind us that all is not what it first appears to be. Upon closer examination, each of these images reveals itself to be a combination of romanticized ideals and deceptive realities. Occasionally the images are derived from scientific photo sources such as aural imaging or cyanotypes.
Symbolist artists such as Gustave Moreau or Albert Pinkham Ryder, 19th century luminist landscape painters like John Frederick Kensett and Frederick Church, 16th century Dutch landscape artists, Northern Renaissance painters like Matthias Grünewald, German botanical engravers, Chinese and Japanese scroll painters, and Hindu and Buddhist mandala mystics all provide an art historical backdrop for these works. In the contemporary artworld, Waterston is part of the loosely knit group of natural image painters which would include Ross Bleckner, Suzanne Caporael, Mark Innerst, Joan Nelson and Terry Winters. - Greg Kucera
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