Shawn Serfas: Alloyed Prairie
to
Bugera Matheson Gallery (New Location) 1B-10110 124 Street, Edmonton, Alberta T5N 1P6
Shawn Serfas, "Half Silo," nd
acrylic, 8″x 8″x 4″
“I create pictures of foreign, remote, unknown, and liminal terrains, both atmospheric and subterranean. Alloyed Prairie is a junction point between environmental sciences, the landscape and issues bordering abstraction and representation. The paintings portray the forces that shape both ideas and matter; they are invented and sourced.
I believe that content is negotiated through process and my studio practice is experimental and process driven. I view my creative research through a systematic lens relating to observational experiments. I examine the physical, chemical, and formal properties of marks I make in relation to a pluralistic range of concepts. The environmental sciences have influenced my creative research in several ways. My interests in geomorphology, hydrology, and remote imaging processes have imbedded an order of physical governance into my painting practice. I create images from a topographical or aerial perspective using geological references employing specific painting techniques that mimic environmental forces. I am interested in the geomorphology of paint and how it becomes a surrogate for other forms of matter and their respective morphologies.
Relational Abstraction is a proposition which asserts that nature is the genetic source of all abstractions in art. If the centrifugal withdrawal or separation of an idea or matter from its parent group is the definition of objective abstraction, then relational abstraction is a centripetal or constant force. It reinforces the constant action of abstraction, it is not an empty, subjective formal vessel; here the line between abstraction and representation is blurred. This idea is my philosophical baseline.
From a spiritual perspective, my work knocks on the door of those who would listen. I believe abstraction invites immaterial conversations about existence and purpose.” Shawn Serfas