Steven Charles

Region: Northeast

I am interested in creating problems. Abstract painting is the most confusing dilemma I have encountered. This confusion motivates me. I am not a believer. I am in search of holes and gaps. When I start a painting, I don’t plan or sketch, I simply begin. These beginnings can be simple drips, splashes, or sometimes just paint applied quickly and directly from the tube.

I then work into these initial marks using a process I call “targeting.” One shape is filled in with a smaller shape, obscuring the initial shape to create a new one. This process is repeated until the portion of the shape being covered is reduced to the smallest amount possible with the selected brush. Each painting begins to generate a logic unique to its own composition. Even though it is obvious that I am the conscious maker of these paintings, the final results always teaches me something about my own process. The impetus for this work is my optimism, although what I am optimistic about constantly escapes me.