Tom Betthauser
I’m interested in binary concepts of entropy and syntropy, organic and synthetic structures, living and inanimate systems, transitioning, intersecting, diverging, existing sympathetically and constantly in contention. My current body of work examines these ideas through a cognitive landscape, depicted in the visual language of generation-specific Clinton-era graphic aesthetics. By its nature, representational work generates narrative, but I have tried to let this narrative form organically in these works. I want to obsessively control each mark that I make and, subsequently, each object or space that these marks represent, but I have tried not to control the overall compositions and structures. The act of drawing and painting allows me to explore and map emotionally charged memories of objects and scenes, forming ideas and conclusions that are finite to my own practice.
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