| Artist Info |
| Name:
John
Whalley |
| Town
of residence: Damariscotta,
Maine |
Brief
Bio:
Over the past 30 years, I have worked in the realist
tradition, using a variety of media including oil, egg
tempera, watercolor, and graphite. The central concern
of my work is to present the subjects I study in such
a way as to allow their inherent and unique characters
to be revealed to the witness. In more recent years,
themes running through my work have been the discovery
of the beautiful in unlikely and hidden places, as well
as an exploration of the narratives and meanings evoked
from many of the orphaned objects I find. This concern
found a parallel expression through my volunteer work
in the country of Brazil from 1991 through 2003. Among
that country’s estimated 36 million "throwaway
children" of the streets, I found that there was,
in a very different way, beauty and value to be discovered
residing beneath the "distressed disguise"
of those so frequently overlooked. My activities included
teaching art at a newly-established orphanage and in
a strange circular way, while imprinting itself upon
the lives of the students, my work acquired certain
imprints in return.
The subjects of my work possess those shapes and textures
which tell their own story. In my work, I explore the
evidence which processes of age and use leave behind,
as well how this evidence reflects subtle qualities
of light. Where these objects appear in groups, a great
deal of attention is given to their abstract composition
and placement of values. I am often concerned with the
narrative element of different objects within their
setting and in their relationships one to another. I
enjoy exploring the similarities and contrasts of forms
and colors I find in the things I see.
Another aspect of my interest is in attempting to capture
the "sense of place" and the moment in time.
Through the quiet observation and rendering of an object’s
or scene’s visual information, I invite the viewer
to share in the presence of the thing observed, the
activity of light at a specific moment in time.
My most recent efforts have been in graphite and oil,
where I have created large-scale images of smaller objects
(such as tools) and natural objects (such as pine cones
and crab shells). These are presented as isolated images
on a neutral background, or incorporated into more complex
textured settings, depending on the result desired.
I plan to explore the composition of these large-scale
images in color and to continue to call upon my varied
and unusual life experiences in the choice and expression
of my subjects.
|
Websites:
www.spanierman.com;
www.greenhutgalleries.com
;
www.johnwhalley.com
|
Represented
by:
Greenhut Galleries, Portland, Maine; Spanierman Gallery
L.L.C, New York, New York |
Artist's
Statement:
This piece of floorboard from an abandoned
skiff washed up here on the shores of the Great Salt Bay of
Damariscotta Mills, reminding me of the sternboard of a boat
in its shape. Over the recent weeks, the alewives have made
their annual appearance here in the Mills as they swim upstream
to the Damariscotta Lake, just outside the windows of my studio--built
as it is over the water. This amazing event, with all of the
chaotic activity of the eagles, ospreys, and gulls, became
an inspiration of making the floorboard flotsam into a memorial
to the alewive's journey--whose cycle ends, and begins here--literally,
beside my easel.
| Description of Art Work |
| Dimensions:
33"
x 15" |
| Medium
Used: Acrylic
on Assemblage |
| Title:
"Alewives" |
|
 |
|
