ROBERT TREAT

About the Work

I love painting and drawing because it is such a peculiar act—that of visually manipulating tangible things, making them into odd, flat, and strangely ordered images on paper or canvas. It is endlessly intriguing and revealing.

The process of painting is a very personal exploration... the real power lies in the act itself. If my paintings are to communicate something of worth, the message must be delivered primarily through a painting process that is itself a struggle. My work is both lyrical and structured and these elements are inseparable and constant. The structured image is often obscured by gestural, often violent strokes of wax/paint. This process is a search for order while, at the same time, recognizing the need for inevitable chaos.

I try to work intuitively, for I feel this is where we tap into that thing which makes our voice unique. I put aside any preconceptions of the direction that the work should go. I just respond to previous marks, decisions, actions, and letting the work evolve spontaneously. Some passages resolve themselves instantly while others are worked and reworked. There are scores of images buried in the layers of wax/paint that have been left behind by this evolution of process. Combining these disparate images create a dialogue that could not have been pre-planned and this excites me.