Joan Weiss: Artist Statement

My paintings are rooted in my experience of the natural world. I am comforted and inspired by the movement of air, the cycles, forms and colors of growth and decay, the turning of light to dark and back to light.

I paint in oils, which, to me, are also a part of the natural world. The texture of pigments, the oils in which they are suspended, and the vivid, amazing colors are an endless source of interest and importance to my work. The relationships between colors carry weight, energy and movement in the paintings.

I structure my paintings based on forms I see around me. I have painted series based on specific places, such as cities, bodies of water, waterfalls, rock formations and the ocean. Most, recently, I have been exploring how ephemeral plant forms are rooted in and draw nourishment from the earth. I start with the idea and with observation through drawings. Then I begin to create a formal composition which relates to the ideas and emotions I am working with.

My work is a form of visual poetry, in that I filter what I see and feel through my subjective sense of form, color and texture. I hope my paintings carry a sense of the beauty and mystery of my vision, while allowing the viewer to have their own singular experience of them.