Nicholas Battis

Lurgee, oil on canvas, 36 x 60 inches, 2007

The Persistence of Painting Too, oil on wood, 40 x 48 inches, 2005

Red Gold Green, oil on canvas, 30 x 48 inches, 2006

Redglo, oil on wood, 38 x 48 inches, 2007

June, oil on wood, 24 x 36 inches, 2007

Artist Statement
I continue in an abstract painting tradition by creating a fluid dreamscape of light and depth with iridescent pigments on a dark background. By mixing powdered pigments with diluted painting medium and by shaping the pigments with compressed air, I am able to transfer an affinity for the spontaneity of watercolor to rigid surfaces.

Often reminiscent of underwater scenes, my paintings are constructed with a simple but effective compositional architecture of overlapping forms, and positive and negative space, combined to produce a dimensional effect. Paintings are not planned in advance; rather they are worked out on the canvas where each additional layer of forms is a response to the last. I work with transparent colors and shapes that include a circular window in order to preserve the “history” of this process.

These glowing paintings and their fiery bursts of color are a salute to painting, and to the perseverance of myself and other painter colleagues who continue in this traditional medium in an art world environment more attune to technology, media and pop-culture.

Website
http://www.nicholasbattis.com