IAN FELICE

When I make a painting, I try to keep away from conscious thought or analysis. I'm generally trying to arrive at a simple idea like harmony or order, but very often it’s the awkwardness and imperfections that make the painting work in the end. In the same way, a lot of the subject matter becomes about the shifts and distortions that occur in my memory and also about how memories are imperfect and transformed over time. One can take a fairytale for example, add some ideas of alienation or despair, perhaps a snapshot from a nightmare of Tucker Carlson, and in the synthesis of these images new meaning can be found. So in this sense, metamorphosis as a result of opposition between both images and impulses becomes a vital part of the work. But ultimately, it’s the mystery of how and why it all happens that is most important for having it hold up in my mind, which makes explaining the art feel somewhat criminal.