My hope is that my paintings are the equivalent of a good deed.
Making art is, for me, a necessity.
The hope is that the personal, in its authenticity, becomes accessible, informative, and comforting.
To be a part of the dialog of art is an invitation, a responsibility, a tradition, and a challenge to go further.
Artists I admire, Van Gogh, Cezanne, and Gauguin, painted all genres: their work is a complete view of the world, both a vast and an intimate picture.
I have worked with many wonderful teachers who have continued in the tradition of figuration as informed by Modern Art.
As a humble recipient, a conduit, I am devoted to expressing what I have sensed, sought, been given, and found.
I aspire toward a painting with a high and low comedy/tragedy, both abstract and representational: figurative, naturally living alongside reality, in a parallel existence, solid and palpable as a poem.
The human figure is innately beautiful. Its intervals and rhythms sign the harmonics of nature, marvelous when engaged in a relational space and informed by light.
In a particular context of a composition, a personal and iconic kind of weight arrives through a responsive, reflective, paratactic process.
The Africans, Ancient Greeks, Massaccio, da Vinci, Taddeo, El Greco, Corot, Courbet, Hokusai, Picasso, Matisse, Beckmann, Bonnard, Balthus, engage and inspire me.
My grandfathers and grandmothers, my parents, brothers and sisters, and teachers, ignite a love that these artists in history keep aflame. These artists and teachers are my friends.
To my contemporaries and to my mentors from times ago, I thank you for our conversations of images over the years.
Grier de Langely Torrence