Artist's Statement
2007 was a year of strong evolutionfor me, both personally and artistically. I began heavily exploring new avenues in abstraction - moving further from image based material into something far more internal.
My studies in yoga, eastern arts, philosophy and spirituality combined with my experiences as a musician, have led to an appreciation and deeper exploration space , vibration, and energy, especially as it concerns the concept of "OM" in yoga, the sound or "hum" of space.
As I become more "in tune" with the vibrations of this energy within myself and how it permeates and connects all things and people around me, I have found it seeks to naturally express itself outwardly from within my work.
I now actively construct pieces that will naturally possess that quality of "OM" vibration. The resulting work resonates with peaceful energy that connects at a deeper level and reflects this connection of all things.
I have long admired and been influenced by other artists and disciplines that capture the same energy of space: Art cinema, intimate jazz, eastern art and calligraphy, yoga, and my studies in string bass. I count all of these things as influences that help shape my philosophies and drive my work summed up in my personal mantra, "Music is the dance of my soul, Art is its reflection, Silence and solitude its refuge".
With regard to the continuing evolution of my work, I tend, at times, to rework some older pieces as they are no longer a current reflection of where I am, not that there is anything wrong with an older "snapshot" of where I was, I just feel that a piece art is never truly finished.
However when a piece becomes, to me, "unshowable" because it just cannot be reworked or is simply too old I will either retire it or paint over it entirely. Such is the impermanance of things and the essence of change. So when a client purchases a piece of art, it does ,in fact, become a snapshot in time.
Lawrence Rich
