Artist Statement 2010
As a 21st Century Expressionist, I paint what I cannot photograph, turning internal/external complexities into tangible visions. Color inspires my compositions, and their energy and depth. Each new work begins with random marks, each new layer urging evolution until one turn of the support reveals one subject that dominates the whole. Every new work thrills me with its unexpected presence and the challenge of its evolution.

My subjects arrive in streams of consciousness, where self-awareness disappears, connecting my spirit to God: Performance Artists; Social Commentary; Earth; Abstractions; Horse Worship; Impossible Teapots; Story Teller's Chairs, and more. Each new painting builds on previous work with different yet consistent progressions of color exchanges, proportions, movement, and texture, sometimes launching a new series.

I thinned oils and mixed them on palettes with brushes and palette knife until 1993, when my neck was broken in a car accident. Five years later, using body weight to propel oil pastels on small sketch pads, mixing and shaping them with fat-handled kitchen tools, the joy of painting again was mine. The size of my support and my range of motion increased as physical therapy continued and again I could stand and paint on canvas with oil sticks and tube oils, moving and mixing them with my hands and the fat-handled tools.

What influences my work goes beyond art school and art history courses to current events, accidents and the rhythms of classical and contemporary music, Mahler to Dylan to McFerrin. Art museum and gallery tours from California to Russia connect me to past and current art worlds.

Like many artists, I use my art to advocate for social justice and raise awareness of spiritual freedom through the arts and education.



Critically Aclaimed Expressionist Art by Patricia Obletz (414) 444-4579