During the mid-late 1980’s, I studied painting at the University of Delaware where I developed a figurative, neo-expressionist style similar to New York artists of the time. After graduating, I put down my brush and worked for ten years as a graphic artist, then ten years as a photojournalist. My dream during those years was to return to painting and live my life as a full-time artist and I’m pleased to say that I’ve done just that.
These days I am completely focused on developing as an abstract expressionist painter and creating an extensive oeuvre of dynamic, energetic pieces. As I complete a painting, I aspire to not to paint my subject but the effect it produces. My paintings exist somewhere in between the imaginary and the real, in a space where the visible meets the invisible.
I’m inspired by the New York School of abstract expressionists of the 1940's-1950's and I admire their diverse techniques of color, form and vibrant energy. Like these artists, I favor the simple expression of the complex thought. My subject matter is often abstract fields of moving color rendered in an energetic, emotional style - this arbitrariness of representation serves as an expressive element in my paintings.
My work is characterized by intense subjectivity, heavy impasto & rough handling of materials. I try to deconstruct traditional painting and create a solid foundation upon which I can create my own personal style and speak to my audience in a new visual language. I believe a work of art does not need to narrate or illustrate to be an effective means of expression.
I usually work in a spontaneous improvisatory manner often using brushes and palette knives to make sweeping gestural marks directly placing my inner impulses onto the canvas. My intention is to use color to produce a contemplative or meditational response in the viewer. The authenticity or value of my work lay in its directness and immediacy of expression.
“I am all about painting and my paintings are all about me.”
– Dave Chambers