I work in a variety of mediums which range from traditional graphite on paper, painting, digital photo prints, multi-layered laser prints on velum, animated gifs for web distribution to HD animated motion paintings. Regardless of the medium they all begin with a simple compositional idea that acts as the springboard from which the work evolves.

In the recent drawings I have been working with grids, a series of overlaid intervals and chance operations created both virtually and physically. With most of the drawings, which in turn extends to the paintings and motion pieces, there is an internal logic that the viewer can decipher with time. For example, in some of the drawings the horizontal intervals are repeated in some fashion on the vertical axis. These simple compositional ideas become the bedrock for the gestural activity.

With this new body of paintings and animations I am exploring the same ideas as the drawings. When the verticals appear in some of the works they reveal the internal structure of the horizontal intervals, even ones that are buried in layers of digital information or actual paint.

All the work starts with a simple compositional structure that acts as the container for “painterly incident” or the action of the painting—painting in the broadest sense including the photo pieces and animations. Some passages accept this structure others try to subvert it. There is an intentional play between the logic of the geometric structure and a more intuitive painterly surface. These opposing forces give the work its depth, visual interest and emotional resonance.

I have no interest in making aesthetically pleasing works, how the work is experienced by a viewer and the relationship that is created is what is important to me. This is the reason I have chosen not to use descriptive titles which would perhaps detract from the viewer’s own unique personal relationship with the work. With DD061210 I was thinking about and referencing Renaissance landscape painting but I do not really feel it necessary to reveal this to a viewer, if one senses this influence that is wonderful, if not, the viewer’s own individual interpretation is equally valid.

It has become a bit of an artistic cliché to say that one doesn’t know what one os doing while creating artwork, but there is some truth to that statement. I have a general idea of the overall structure and colors I want to use, but in the process of creation the work reveals what the next step is. I never know what the work will look like in the end but it never ceases to amaze me when everything clicks together, when the surface, the color and the composition gel and the finished work materializes.

I try very hard to make the work appear effortless and inevitable, it would make me very happy if I could finish a piece in ten minutes. It never happens and I have never gotten close, but I keep trying.

Daniel DeLuna, Rochester NY. 2013
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