Adam Stewart

Living in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado will always be my bottomless well of inspiration for painting. The visually stimulating landscape never fails to excite my emotions. Painting is a way for me to channel the overwhelming vistas that evoke powerful feelings. The result, a picture that becomes the essence of nature.

Others before me have taken similar feelings and used this inspiration to make beautiful pictures. They were the Abstract Expressionists. I feel closest to their experimental paint and compositional approaches. Artist like: Willem De Kooning, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Matta and Hans Hoffman each poured their own emotions and personal views of their surroundings onto canvas to reflect a personal, grand vision. Another artist who lives at the heart of my vision is J.M.W. Turner. Although very different in approach from the Abstract Expressionists, Turner paints a landscape that is felt more than actually seen. The atmospheric glow that emanates from his paintings are like no other. An atmosphere that you can almost feel the wetness of the climate, sense the heat from a bright warm yellow, or become lost in a foggy mist of gray. This phenomenon is what I’m after. I work at creating a spiritual-naturalistic atmosphere that is livable, breathable, and wonderful, while being brightly abstract, foreign, and extremely interesting.

The painting’s surface is always an exploration of structure and texture. Illusionistic shapes are my suggestion of imagery. Amorphic drifts hint at wind, water, or motion, while geometric shapes build up a topographical or divided view of forms. Imagery is ambiguous, a painting is meant to be pondered by the viewing individual. An introduction of texture ranges from a pebbly-rocky crust to a smooth soft passage. Within this texture is a combination of Earthen and man-made materials to create a sense of interest and tension.

These textural and compositional elements combined with an inspiring surrounding provide me with a strong foundation to fulfill my artistic vision. To take painting to another dimension, a direction shared by J.M.W. Turner and the Expressionists of the past. A concept of blending natural phenomenon with a colorful expressionism.