Generally, I work directly with no preconceived idea. I choose an object, an actual car part or atire tread pattern and respond to it by focusing on what makes it interesting to me. If I'm making sculpture, by cutting, bending, blending other parts with it and painting, I eventually arrive at something that expresses my response to the part's dance. When paining, I expand the shapes, create backgrouds by printing with the parts and color them. There is always a temptation to make the work representative--Oh, that looks like a leaf-- which I usually find distracting. I frequently listen to Soca music while I work to free me from over intellectualizing.

I now live in Kingston, Ontario and have had to change from sculpture to painting/printing as I can't weld in my current studio. My first paintings were "message" oriented--Roadkill, Sprawl, etc.-- and though I will probably keep making the occasional message piece, I've recently returned to using car parts, this time printing with them or using them as templates for painting.

LIKES--
Children's art—direct, expressive, colorful. Graffiti—it's big, it's public, it's got lots of patterns, it's not precious, it's got a message.
Hundertwasser—organic, colorful, is driven by a deep sense of the earth.

Copyright 2009-2011. Jeff Mann