by John McLaughlin
Dimensions: 24″ x 30″
Media: Mixed Media
For more information: 517-999-1010
Price: $850
Inspiration for Start to Finish
John McLaughlin’s paintings and drawings are part of his own lineage of abstraction that has evolved from an earnest search for resolution in a range of gestures, movements, and erasures. The appearance and meaning of the resolution has developed in the meandering progression of the creative process.
McLaughlin continues his investigation into the possibilities of the accidental along with the more deliberate form and lines in both nature and the man made world. The labors are personal, but also come from a place of acutely studied history of art, design, and music.
Similar to a musical composition, McLaughlin slowly creates his paintings by building on and modifying motifs applied in previous layers. He embraces improvisational gestures and incidents allowing some of the previous marks to show in a palimpsest manner. Among this rich layering are fits and starts of lines, doodles, and sketches. This action occurs in so many layers, that some images are barely perceivable, giving us insight into McLaughlin’s thought process and leaves you searching for more clues. On the top layer are hazy spaces of the paintings hard-lined, organic shapes of color and line drawings that conjure a quirky aggregate of the ancient, scientific, and industrial hieroglyphs. The paintings are a steady, engrossing read that gradually reveal their history and resolve.
Artist’s Biography
I am a self-taught full time artist working in mixed media on paper and canvas. I was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1954 and currently live and reside in Canton, Michigan since 1980.
My work combines representational along with abstract figures and forms. My paintings are made by adding and subtracting drawings and paint layers over a period on days, weeks, and months. This procedure of drawing, painting and mark making elements, combine to make a contemporary abstract landscape picture in the urban environment.
Gallery Exhibitions in 2011
Michigan Fine Art Competition, Bloomfield Hills, MI
City Streets Exhibition, Lansing, MI
SOPA Fine Arts, Kelowna BC, Canada
Hudson Gallery, Sylvania, Ohio
Birmingham Culture Center, Birmingham, MI
Luminarte Gallery, Dallas, TX
Xanadu Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
Lansing Art Gallery, Lansing, MI
