Statement
Dion Yannatos
My recent paintings and ink drawings focus on water—moving, rushing water. I would not call these landscapes; they are observations inspired by the beauty of raw nature, the shape of the land that sustains us. They are like sketches, slices of the broader panorama of the world, glimpses
The images I have been working with take shape from a combination of sources, sketches and photos done in situ, compositional studies, observation and memory. Although the paintings are done in oil, they borrow, in approach and technique, from the ink drawings and watercolor in that the white of the ground is retained; there is no other white pigment used.
With a limited palette, glaze-like or wash-like marks are applied and accumulate in layered observations of color, value, intensity and shape from which the image can emerge. Detail does not lead the way, but can appear as the process progresses. When viewed up close the images dissolve into an abstraction; with distance they coalesce into the clarity of a representative image.
In a moment the world can seem to be caught with a false sense of finality and purpose, yet the world is fluid in time. How do you reconcile this if you want to represent the truth of a moment in a single image? This question of how observation, memory and continuity can be condensed into an image has been an ongoing source of exploration in my painting.
Movement, or time, can only be implied in the tension of dynamic relationships between essential marks and compositional elements in the work. A focus on moving water has been a good opportunity to
explore this in what could be called experiments in experience and form.
Dion Yannatos
My recent paintings and ink drawings focus on water—moving, rushing water. I would not call these landscapes; they are observations inspired by the beauty of raw nature, the shape of the land that sustains us. They are like sketches, slices of the broader panorama of the world, glimpses
The images I have been working with take shape from a combination of sources, sketches and photos done in situ, compositional studies, observation and memory. Although the paintings are done in oil, they borrow, in approach and technique, from the ink drawings and watercolor in that the white of the ground is retained; there is no other white pigment used.
With a limited palette, glaze-like or wash-like marks are applied and accumulate in layered observations of color, value, intensity and shape from which the image can emerge. Detail does not lead the way, but can appear as the process progresses. When viewed up close the images dissolve into an abstraction; with distance they coalesce into the clarity of a representative image.
In a moment the world can seem to be caught with a false sense of finality and purpose, yet the world is fluid in time. How do you reconcile this if you want to represent the truth of a moment in a single image? This question of how observation, memory and continuity can be condensed into an image has been an ongoing source of exploration in my painting.
Movement, or time, can only be implied in the tension of dynamic relationships between essential marks and compositional elements in the work. A focus on moving water has been a good opportunity to
explore this in what could be called experiments in experience and form.