Artist's Statement:
All great artists are explorers.
I believe painters have only scratched the surface of realism.
After about 15 years of doing abstract paintings, and then six years
of working with photography, I came in a roundabout way to a sudden
revitalization of interest in painting. This was sparked after seeing
realist oil paintings that produced the look of clouds I was creating
with infrared photography.
I have found that realist painting can go beyond photography in vitality,
point of view, liveliness, imaginativeness, flexibility, and expressing
more of oneself. I found I had a strong affinity for oil painting.
It is endlessly fascinating. Although it is hard work, I enjoy the
process as well as the research I do into other’s work, the
materials and techniques and many other dimensions that relate to
the work.
I coined the term "Pararealism" to express the fact that
realism in painting has many more dimensions than what is ordinarily
considered "realistic" (such as in the supposed objective
representationalism of a photograph). The term pararealism also points
to the fact of going beyond photorealism (“post” or “neo-photorealism”
are too cumbersome and not as suggestive). It is my view that realism,
impressionism and abstraction all blend into each other in the reality
of a painting, and these categories and terms are more present in
the mind, as useful categories for discussion, than as realities in
the world. However, nothing is set in stone, and my art is an exploration,
in thought and action, of these worlds of vision, light, and representation.
Pararealism, from the Greek root for "beyond or around"
means going beyond reality, like the original impressionists who wanted
to go beyond the static idealisms of the traditional official Salon
school. It is my understanding that he impressionists wanted to capture
the play of light and explore the optical effects of painted color
as well as the subjective emotional conveyance. Pararealism also is
about seeing and expressing what is seen, but takes its cues from
many more modes of painting than impressionism, including but not
limited to photorealism and the Old Masters. These are all still available
to the painter.
One artistic mode, “ism” or style does not replace another
as they do in science, rather they are all additive. We can build
on what others in the past have learned. We can safely ignore the
modernist demand to throw away the past in the name of pure innovation.
True innovation depends on the past, but lives in the present, with
an eye towards the future. Art is divergent: it does not try to hone
in on The Truth, like religion and science, but instead the growth
of art as like the growth and evolution of life, ever increasing in
depth, complexity and diversity. Beauty, Truth and Goodness are not
trends of fashion or -isms, or static idealistic absolutes, but ever-living
ineffable wellsprings from the core of life from which to draw on
in the present.
"In art, if not in politics, it is often the conservatives who
are the most revolutionary.” - Andrew Lambirth
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
It is the source of all art and science."
— Albert Einstein
Bio:
Platt has been making art since childhood, coming from a creative
family that includes a father and brother that were architects and
a sister that was an artist. He draws on many traditions and sources
of inspiration for his art. The world around him serves as an endless
source of visual wonder.
An artist known in the past for his innovative infrared photographic
art and beautifully inventive abstract acrylic work, recently Platt
has become intrigued with the more traditional craft of oil painting
and realism.
Platt was born in 1959 in San Diego, California.
He has a B.A. from UCSD in Philosophy and Art History, and currently
resides in the historic Mission Hills neighborhood of San Diego. He
is mostly a self-taught painter but has taken instruction with the
colorist Patricia Patterson and the highly accomplished realist Andre
Rushing. His art can be found in private collections in Europe and
North America.
Artistic influences include European realists and impressionists such
as Vermeer and Sorolla, the photorealists such as Robert Estes, as
well as recent California artists like Wayne Thiebaud and James Doolin.
Non-Western art was a source of inspiration for his abstract works
in the 80’s and 90’s.
Platt is also an accomplished photographer, with two exhibits of his
work to his credit so far in San Diego. His photographic inspires
and informs his work. He says “Painting and photography enhance
each other. And they both help artist and viewer see the world in
new and deeper ways.”
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