John Tallman: Artist Statement

Is it possible for Painting today to be subversive? Is it possible for Painting to challenge accepted conventions of two dimensional media and image the way Fontana and Palermo did for their time? Is it possible to make paintings about process, rather than product? Can a contemporary artist working “abstractly” make objects that avoid sentimentality? Is it possible to explore maximum difference through repetition? Is it possible to sit on the fence between making images and making forms when it’s a common practice to choose sides?

On a more intimate level, I seek to invoke empathy. My work seeks positioning yet lacks specific realization in any firm conceptual sense. Therefore, I try to make the work as physically present as possible. If I successfully create an “open” object, the viewer will be successfully nudged into participation. Much of my “inspiration” comes through image searches I do in order to find content for my visual blog, “color chunks”. Plastic bric-a-brac and intensely colored liquids provide particular joy.

All my work is painting because I deal with the essential materiality of a colored liquid and a flat surface. The results might veer off course of what is commonly known as Painting but my central concerns mirror those of the most famous master’s of the medium. Which is, how do I make this stuff transcend its limitations to move thought, evoke emotion and reveal sensations?


John Tallman, Nov. 2008, Lookout Mountain, TN.