Scotty Peek, NorthWest Corner, 2025
I've started to think of myself as a non-objective painter that needs a touch of reality to anchor the chaos. When I paint too realistically, I miss the mystery and uncertainty. When I paint completely in a non-objective manner, with no realistic reference, I miss the recognizable. So I've settled into this way of working that uses reality as the framework for non-objective experiments. Over the course of many paintings, I often drift closer to or farther from reality, then drift slowly or quickly back in the other direction. I don't overthink it, I just respond to what's happening on the canvas and to what currently excites me about the subject or the painting process. I'm always continuing work on paintings that could be finished, but don't survive the "but so what" question. I need for each painting to have a reason to exist beyond an accurate depiction - maybe a guttural feeling, a unique identity, or a jarring surprise. I'm constantly reminding myself to control my paintings less, because inevitably, my favorite parts of the paintings are the ones that seemed to happen without intention.
This body of work, like most of my work, is a reflection of the things I see throughout my day that beg to be painted, combined with the current way I like to apply, push and drag paint around. These things change over time, but my focus is to be honest, pursuing my interests, and making decisions that keep me engaged and making new paintings.
This body of work, like most of my work, is a reflection of the things I see throughout my day that beg to be painted, combined with the current way I like to apply, push and drag paint around. These things change over time, but my focus is to be honest, pursuing my interests, and making decisions that keep me engaged and making new paintings.
