In science, religion and art, nature is a complex and fertile matrix for both mystery and discovery. My work is grounded in non-objective, “internal” directions, but I am also attracted to natural, “external” phenomena. Recognizable subject matter often appears in my work, but I am less interested in natural appearances than I am in the visual exploration of both natural and internal dynamics. Scientific and religious concepts often interact and inform these expressions. It is important for me to be open to a wide range of creative influences and approaches, engaging both rational and intuitive processes.

Art making itself is akin to the processes of nature: the building, changing and destroying of forms in the evolution of a more dynamically balanced and, perhaps, a more interesting and meaningful whole. I make paintings, drawings and prints. Many pieces are shaped and painted wood relief panels, often in multi-part, rearrangeable formats. I think of such pieces as visual organisms that can permute/mutate and adapt to various contexts. Some pieces are carefully designed before production; others evolve more playfully from wood and mental scraps, changing over time; often ending up radically different from the original idea. Either way, I sense myself as a link, an agent of change - a small step between what was and what will be.

With shape, color, physical materials and internal dialogue, my attempt is to explore and express the themes, mysteries and paradoxes of the universe we are part of. I cannot imagine anything more interesting.

Copyright © 2004 Allen Bishop