Artist Bio and Statement for Upcoming Duo Exhibition, and 3 Promotional Paintings

ronthroop (71)Pro Artist USAin WORLD OF XPILAR • last month (edited)

Big Chair, Small Window 2024. Acrylic on loose canvas, 20 x 23"

The director of the gallery asked for an artist bio and statement, and up to three high res images for promotion. It’s the 25th anniversary of Stuckism, which I want to promote, but I must tread softly because it’s a duo exhibit. I don’t want steal the thunder of my show partner. Anyway, here they are:

Bio:

I am a prolific, full time expressionist painter and writer. It’s a hand-to-mouth existence and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I live in a cedar shake cottage by the shore of Lake Ontario. Each day I awake predawn with a charged exuberance that begins to wane with the rising sun. By afternoon I accept failure as a routine chore of this modern day art business, keeping myself upright through supper and doing the dishes. At dusk I take dreamy walks with my wife down to the lake, so lucky to have love even if career success is a crapshoot unto the big sleep. Oh well. I paint. I write. Then night and restful slumber to another day of sublime torture.

My First Pet Without Malice 2024. Acrylic on loose canvas, 20 x 23"

I am a naive, intuitive painter and work with an uncommon desire toward self-liberation, yet also communion. I am in the world and out of it depending on my mood for the day. I paint quickly, and seek success in the practice, for I am hyperactive by nature and want to find and hold onto natural rhythms. Very rarely do I draw with any instrument besides the paintbrush. I change style often because I am hungry for originality. Artistically, I strive to perfect my limitations.
I work in the traditional manner, with the simplest ingredients. Easel, paintbrush, and paint (acrylic and oil). To me, color, expression, and freedom of the brushstrokes is tantamount to my success as an artist.

Artist Statement

My journey as a painter has been deeply intertwined with the Stuckist movement. As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of Stuckism, I pay homage to its foundational principles, which can be found in a 20 statement Manifesto online. Here are a couple of my favorites to get you familiar:
#8: It is the Stuckist’s duty to explore his/her neurosis and innocence through the making of paintings and displaying them in public, thereby enriching society by giving shared form to individual experience and an individual form to shared experience.

#9 The Stuckist is not a career artist but rather an amateur (amare, Latin, to love) who takes risks on the canvas rather than hiding behind ready-made objects (e.g. a dead sheep). The amateur, far from being second to the professional, is at the forefront of experimentation, unencumbered by the need to be seen as infallible. Leaps of human endeavor are made by the intrepid individual, because he/she does not have to protect their status. Unlike the professional, the Stuckist is not afraid to fail.
In honor of this milestone, I set out to create one, two, sometimes three paintings a day on loose canvas, which quickly added up to the collection you see here. This is a rough account of “me” over the past several months. A neurotic’s journal. Notice the titles. Some provocative, some cryptic, some ordinary… Each day’s work was unplanned until the brush hit the canvas. Present moment paintings. Also a testament to my penchant for Eastern philosophy, especially Vedanta.
If this were a solo exhibition, I would have titled it “Some Crude and Desperate Stuckist Paintings”. Terry Slade has graciously invited a little Stuckist philosophy into the title of our duo show. Thanks Terry!
I hope our exhibition adds to the enduring power of art to transcend boundaries and unite us in our shared humanity. I invite you to explore the depths of your neurosis and innocence. Find connection with the imperfect and unframed.
These paintings were intentionally created to exhibit without the constraint of traditional framing. I strongly believe that artists often bear unnecessary financial burdens in the presentation of their work. By leaving the canvases loose, I invite the viewer to free the artwork from the confines of predetermined presentation and allow for a more intimate engagement with each piece.
Plus, without a frame, you can get one on the cheap!