biography

KEN ROTH

Artist Statement

"The preoccupation within my work over the past few years has been to challenge myself with alternative approaches to how I build a painting. This might mean sanding an older painting down and working over the top of it or painting right on to a variety of substrates – canvas, wood, metal and various types of paper. My goal is to create an engaging surface and to honor the unique qualities of the materials. Most of the time I am working with oil paint but occasionally I will play with mixed media techniques …. including acrylic, gouache, various drawing media and collage. For me the excitement of painting lies in the discovery of something new – I am certainly not after something that is certain!

The subjects I paint are inspired by direct contact with nature; whether it is a landscape or a figurative motif, I approach it in the same way, finding something interesting to say about the subject. For me, it usually means simplifying and abstracting the image in some way. Even though my painting is representational, I am after something different than a literal depiction. I want to discover the poetry in the subjects I choose to paint."