Thomas Flynn II

artist statement

In my work, nature, color, and perceived light become tools to record and reexperience brief encounters with the mystical within the setting of the forest under an ever-present sun.

Working between the studio and in plein air, I tend to view each painting created in nature as an active interaction with the natural world. I often will mix found clay and river water into the paint and onto the canvas, using found natural objects to scrape and manipulate the paint to reveal and obscure layers underneath. I often work on flat canvases that have exposed torn edges – like a swatch taken from nature, threads hanging loose, its silhouette not exactly square. Recently, I’ve been incorporating shaped panels and natural wood to help add to this narrative in new ways.

The forest is forever because it dies and dies and so lives. In my work, meditations on the cycle of mortality and an anthropomorphic view of the natural world combine to create a parallel world drenched in color and swirling with silhouettes found in the forest.