I was drawn to painting nocturnes from my work in NFT over that last few years. I use many neural networks, DALLE, machine learning A.I. generators to create components of many of my pieces. Those engines often produce surrealistic results that offered a sort of just-out-of-reach mysteriousness and Tonalism paintings often spoke that language. This idea of painting mood vs. subject drew me to the masters; Whistler, Dewey, Inness, Twatchman, Eaton — they all used landscapes with heavy atmosphere to depict a sublime moment in time. I’m drawn to that sense of tension of color vibrations in neutral tones. There’s an energy that comes from discerning what color looks like in the absence of daylight. Night paintings offer a blanket of anonymity, a sort of hiding of the viewer from the scene being observed, as well as offer a sense of voyeurism when looking at spot illuminations from windows, distant lights, and backlight objects. And night is that of the subconscious and of secrets. Night is a time of seeking shelter, of sleep, of feeling protected. A tugging primitive sense of danger from things we cannot see but can imagine even more vividly makes for an unease. Night is also just dark. Clarity and vivid hues are replaced by hazy shades of what they truly are. Forms blend into a new indescribable mass without beginning or end. This somewhat reflects my series the most, that sense of a dimming, morphing presence that is Provincetown itself. I’m an artist that began a journey on the shores where greats have studied and worked and like them (but not as good as them) I moved on. I live in coastal Maine part-time now as well as Miami Beach. Both could not be more different. Both are inspiring. Both have drawbacks. I’m lucky to live and work in both locations and my work will look to incorporate them. They also enjoy the blanket of night and I’m eager to study it. I’ll see what A.I. thinks of it all and we’ll get back to you.
NOCTURNES
Alden Gallery September 16th — 29th, 2022
