Spring 2025
Windowpane #37
Stan Kurth
Stan Kurth coming to Colony Spring 2025
“Intuitive painting, for me, is about embracing feeling and instinct. I begin my work without any preliminary thoughts or plans for a specific object or subject. Starting with a blank substrate, I make marks using a variety of tools, creating a library of design elements and applying design principles until a personal aesthetic is achieved. I do not use any external reference.
Early marks are often random, though lines or shapes of thoughts sometimes emerge. These repetitive forms are my archetypes. You may find vague human anatomy, non-specific animals, interiors, buildings, furniture, vessels, surreal botanicals, automobile parts, and various objects that have piqued my interest over a lifetime. These shapes, though familiar, remain ambiguous enough to allow the viewer to craft a personal narrative. This ambiguity, whether intentional or not, invites mystery and intrigue over the obvious.
As the painting progresses, more elements, including color, are introduced. Initially random, these elements gradually shift towards a cohesive design. A dominant color temperature may emerge, or a glaze might unify the underlying colors. Values can shift to dominant light, mid, or dark tones. Elements are enhanced, obscured, or covered up, often revealing glimpses of the painting’s beginnings through multiple layers. I use various tools—brushes, palette knives, scrapers, sticks, sandpaper, my hands, my fingernails, and more—to apply and remove pigment in varying degrees. Over time, principles such as rhythm, harmony, unity, pattern, gradient, conflict, dominance, contrast, balance, repetition, alternation, and movement coalesce into a composition I find aesthetically pleasing.”
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