Paul Winter - Statement on Working Method

Much of what I do, in terms of materials, I like to think of as a kind of alchemy. Not only does it interest me to try some less conventional materials, but also what happens when two or more are combined in some way, whether on paper, canvas, foil, wood, acrylic, etc. This experimentation will sometimes generate ideas on its own. Otherwise, my ‘inspirational’ material includes philosophical, scientific, fictional, and theological or metaphysical texts, as well as other artist’s works, in particular their formal attributes and themes. I am also interested in digital media and I will, at times, use it during or for the entirety of a project. Photo-manipulation programs such as Photoshop, GIMP, and even simpler ones such as Preview or Paintbrush offer me a variety of tools for developing works and generating ideas.

I write frequently about the state of my work and try to use writing to both identify problems and contemplate abstract concepts. I have recently begun using text in some of my work – primarily drawings. Using text is challenging, and my text-based works are still falling short for a number of reasons. Yet my point is that I find that language is just as much of a medium for making artwork as it is for anything else. I enjoy the aesthetic qualities of handwriting, and have stuck to using that for now, as I flesh out preliminary ideas (this being said in the larger time-span of my work).

After I have begun working, there is little formal planning that happens. Most of that happens beforehand or at the beginning, and I find that utilizing some of the alchemy or experimentation, which I earlier described, to allow for a bit of spontaneity to arise will generate a more interesting work of art. I tend not to set expectations for when a work will be finished or what I think it should look like in the end, so as to avoid controlling the work too much and thereby limiting what the work could possibly become. Finally, I will also from time to time begin a work by recycling a previous sketch, painting, text, or whatever. I have found that the reinterpretation or recreation of a work is sometimes enough to move me forward.