With this body of work, I sought to further explore the materials that make up the paintings themselves. I used primary colors more than before and generally I employed a simpler palette. Furthermore, I allowed myself to work on the largest canvases with just a single color. The end result is that several of the paintings are highly graphic and emotionally charged with imagery that speaks to me.
As with much of my past work, these photo-based paintings use subject matter that is both familiar to me, as well as strange. Much of the imagery is derived from my own photos but occasionally also from images found on the Internet (be they people, buildings, backgrounds, etc.).
The title “SYSTEM:” came to me more or less randomly, but I realized more and more how aptly it applied to this exhibition. When creating the large paintings, I project the image straight on to the canvas. First I paint the dark areas. Next I adjust the image so that the next value is projected and I paint in those areas, and so on. This “system” has the effect of completely breaking down the image into random abstract shapes that when filled in – “paint by numbers style” – a complete and recognizable image is attained… sort of like the experience of watching a photograph develop in the darkroom.
Denis Luzuriaga – Holyoke, May 7th, 2010
The exhibition was on view at The Fourth Floor Gallery at Open Square – 4 Open Square Way – Holyoke, MA
