Thomas Colbert
Light and reflection draw me to the flame of art. I have painted for almost fifty years and the joy of color and applying it with a brush never cease to give me pleasure. I paint and time disappears into the painting. I am always looking for a way to elevate the everyday into something that inspires a new understanding of our lives. Often, I work in series on a theme, looking for different relationships between objects. Representation is the jumping off point for an experience of unexpected revelation, when the painting becomes alive and the dialog between me and the work is one of give and take, where one mark determines the next. The work is most rewarding when the painting actually has a mind of its own and things get out of control and seemingly lost, when finally there is a reclamation of the surface and the true dialog begins. It is the surprising things that happen that keep me going. I also like to compare painting to the experience of music-making. It is a performance of sorts that builds as time passes, as the surface acquires a history of paint. There is the beginning, the middle and the end. All is influenced by what has happened before. Portraits provide a vivid example of how the subtlest mark can change the impression of the sitters character. When painting objects, I like to animate them so they have their own character and are lively in the composition. Landscapes are in two dimensions where I can enter from above and run around in the imaginary third dimension. Light sets the mood and reflections reverberate in the mind. Thomas Colbert, January 2011
Thomas Colbert 226 East Third Street New York NY 10009
colbertstudio_att.net
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