Bruce Black Art True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist. Albert Einstein

The imagery in my paintings has evolved over the years, but certain themes have persisted throughout.  Among these are, man’s relationship to nature as well as defining a sense of place.   I see nature as both a sublime metaphor for spiritual peace and as a contrasting obstacle to an expanding population.  My paintings tend to strive for establishing a visual balance between the man made and natural, the geometric and organic.

While in Organ I developed a body of small abstract oil paintings that sought to capture the essence of the Willamette Valley where I lived.  These “meditations” began with realistic images taken from the landscape and were gradually worked down to a non-representational painting.  The jagged hulls of old barns, orchards, farm equipment, and vineyards were the catalyst for the imagery and comprised the view from my car window as I traveled back and forth from McMinnville to Salem for work.

Recently I have begun adding more representational imagery into my work.  My new paintings comprise the skeletons of new buildings under construction, figures, trees and other natural phenomenon.  They represent unchecked urban sprawl in the Phoenix valley along with the personal memories that I have of growing up in this area.

I paint because the effort is infinitely challenging both mentally and manually.  I am drawn to the challenges of organizing a two-dimensional space in both a harmonious and discordant manner.  The exercise of bringing chaos to order is extremely satisfying and I try to create images that are personal, historically relevant and well crafted.  Also (and as the joke at the top of this page illustrates), one must not overlook the obvious; it’s a lot of fun!

As the viewer, I hope that you will bring your own experiences and interpretations to the paintings and that you may find them equally beautiful and intellectually engaging.