Wilder Inside - Currently showing at the Triton Gallery, Santa Clara, CA. Big Bowl

Kenetic Color Nap Antonelli's Pond

Going Down Wilder Stage Dance Storm

Andrew Purchin Artist Statement
Intent:
My intent is to stay in my authentic and receptive expression. I try to deeply let go – so I can enter a spiritual and/or emotional dimension and share it with you.
I use composition, drawing, perspective, brush stroke, color, texture and rhythm to reflect back most accurately who I am in that expression. I strive to capture the big picture and the subtle picture. I want to discover the spirit of life in all things. I try and find the movement in the subject, risk messing up, experiment with edges- so as to stay true to the subject.
I like to have an expressive range in my paintings. To express my vision they don’t all have to be clearly defined or fast and expressive. Some are more representational and others lean towards abstraction. More of my focus is on authenticity than on style.
Method:
I paint from life whenever possible. I use models and paint plein-air (on location in the open air). On some works I use a digital photo to complete the works. The danger with working from photos is that the work can become too accurate to the photo and lose its life. I try to keep brush strokes fresh—not muddled.
When I paint on location, I search for specific compositions. I am interested in doorways to the horizon, paths, deep shadows and rough textures in contrast to smooth textures. I play with time. Sometimes I just try to capture one time of day and at other times I am interested in the change of light and shadow and/or the movement of clouds and grasses.
I go back to the same locations. I form a relationship with a place as I form relationships with the models who are my subjects. A place is never the same for me once I paint it and I experience greater intimacy with the people I paint.
Abstract work:
Some of my abstract work comes from seeing abstractions in life. Other works come from an intuitive process of painting from within. I play with composition, light, color and form never knowing what comes next. I find the non-representational paintings to be the most challenging, perhaps because it is all up to me and I want the art to sing like nature does.
Materials:
-I mostly use water soluble oils because I find them to be versatile, easy to clean and less toxic than conventional oils. They dry to the touch in around 24-30 hours. Conventional oils can take much longer. And acrylics dry way too fast for me, often within a half hour.
-My palette emphasizes complementary colors. The paints start out neatly arranged – kept wet then layers of mess— As a rule I do not use black but instead mix a range of dark colors.
-I use a range of surfaces: canvas, canvas panels, rice paper and/or handmade paper primed with gesso on board, A lot of my paintings have layers of old paintings under them or surfaces that I’ve added a base color besides white. In general I like some resistance when I work-old paintings and texture provide that. However some subjects beg for a clean white canvas.

I have been painting the movement of dancers at Dance Church at The 418 in Santa Cruz. There is a DJ and there is an intention to dance from the inside out while being aware of others. Each week a new atmosphere arrives.
Lisa Christensen and myself co-created a major Aerial Dance about psychotherapy, entitled Hold on to the Chair which will be performed on April 11 and 12th at CounterPULSE in San Franciso. This has altered my experience of perspective and momentum.

I cannot separate painting from dancing:
For the last seven years or so I have been practicing dance improvisation. Dancing in collaboration with others is a deep meditation. It requires me to be internally and externally aware. When I dance, my body is a paint brush and I am in touch with the other dancers—sculpting and being sculpted. When I paint I am dancing—improvising with the other dancers—the trees, grasses, light, earth, the images and forms and gestures in my body and in the bodies around me.