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Jacob Pongratz
Artist's Statement
The major goal in producing my art is to apply a primal
energy that solidifies my experience as a human to canvas. A fluid
approach of spontaneity and confusion is essential to my finished
product. The subject matter is one of universal understanding;
it is the reflection of one's self that matters most, using abstract
forms to unbalance any preconceived notions of rationale. What
little representations that do exist are merely adaptations of
the primary idea into more fully developed forms. My willingness
to let go of the customary subjects and examine the idea of belief
and ideas existing beyond the plane of paint on canvas has given
me opportunities to exploit my enthusiasm. My own methods of art
making are straightforward, in that they truly have no convention
only habits may define them and impulsiveness frees them. That
process in itself is key in the outcome I deem necessary. A true
palette is conceived with minimum contemplation and with total
finality knowing that it will be utterly consumed by the conclusion
of each project. It is my aim to teach myself to see in a very
specific manner that allows the undeniable image an opportunity
to spawn until the vision is complete. An innate surveillance
of the initiative that hemorrhages forth the specific and general
information defines the boundaries between a hypothesis and fruition.
An understanding of the spectator's position is intended to give
the witness all the introspection they desire, without a severe
definition of purpose. The autobiographical nature is rooted so
deep that one may have no knowledge of it at all. In finding the
solution to each work the initial concept must be purged several
times to embalm the overall purity of the piece. The use of triggers
to make connections is critical to unleashing the more imminent
information while obscuring the inferior backdrop. My questioning
and hunt for an image becomes the genesis and path along which
my work travels. This excursion must be open and broad, and not
focused on termination. I draw the heart of the action from images
of remembrance, past and present, recollections of objects used,
populations destroyed, manifestation of moments, or extensive
passages of time. I must include everything, and yet, all may
be removed in order for me to feel the tension and presence of
recalled emotion. With each painting, I undertake a search for
an engaging image with no pre-existing plan. The human essentials
of space, time, place, landscape, and light are the perceptual
cues that I use (however ambiguous or diffuse they may appear).
I am motivated by the inherent contradictions in painting: its
physicality, its misleading potential. I use the medium -the process
itself-sometimes spontaneously, sometimes progressively, to generate
the finished work. As much as each work is a result of a number
of processes, the sum of canvas and paint, each is also an image
that is conjured and visualized through the medium, spurred by
the qualities of paint. The work automatically exists through
the evidence of its incarnation, but also can imply a fiction
that belies its resources.