DAVID NEWKIRK- statement

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DAEDALUS AT THE BEACH SERIES

"The idea for the title for this series of paintings comes from my imagining the mythical figure of Daedalus, who was assigned to create the labyrinth that concealed the Minotaur. I pictured him walking along the beach, absently looking at flotsam, considering nature’s random shapes and forms, and somehow coming up with ideas for his maze. In these paintings I have set out to navigate a maze of issues, such as gesture, touch (evidence of process), and two-vs.-three-dimensionality.

For each of these works I began by making a small maquette from arranged flotsam from the hardware store; these small compositions are only jumping-off points for my paintings however. Once I sketch out a rough guide to the composition, I let spontaneity and intuition take over, and the process of making the painting leads to the work’s conclusion. The canvas size defines my own physical relation to the arcs and shapes my arm and hand can form. In sketching these gestural marks, I aim for a loose and unencumbered sense of physical freedom.

An eclectic mix of twentieth century influences informs my work; a strong Pop sensibility emerges, for example. In the past several years I have taken a growing interest in the work of Toronto artists John Kissick and Ron Shuebrook, and most recently in the paintings of the American Brice Marden.

While I had in mind a positive and light-hearted tone for these works, the paintings may not resonate emotionally that way with an audience, for I also sense an underlying seriousness about them – something liberated but also defiant, perhaps even angry – behind the bold shapes and colours. This may be the ambiguity or the irony of life coming through. Hopefully this ambivalence invigorates the work."

DAVID NEWKIRK

Art Work

Curriculum Vitae