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Artist Statement
I was sitting on one of Washington State's natural rock beaches about three years ago clearing my mind, taking in the sun and listening to the waves against the shore when I noticed the pattern of the round rocks and the bands of stick debris washed up over them. The pattern was simple, circles and lines, opposites yet in concert together. The basic elements, laid out in natural art form. I was moved and motivated.
I wanted to create an entirely new line of work based on this simple concept. For three years I struggled with the idea and tried many ways of depicting the pattern. I used brush, pallet knife, and other odds and ends but failed in capturing the crisp essence of the moment. Finally it occurred to me that maybe the best way of representing the images of the scene is with the objects themselves. How best to show the soul of an object than by the object itself?
My work is based off this natural arrangement of stone (circle) and stick (line); the correlation of the two. It is a portrait of opposites, circle and line, black and white, crisp stark applications of pigment intertwined with faint, fragmented representations. A dance, a harmonious design where negative, empty space is as important as the objects themselves. A glossy finish takes us back to where we started with the water on the beach.
I collect stones and sticks from Northwest beaches, using ones that I find together to create a series of paintings. The paintings represent the spirit of these objects.
--Greg Prince
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