Unresolved Feelings about Painting. Part one. “Wheat Pasting”
I’ve been thinking a lot about painting over the past couple of years. Most of my work for some time now has been in photography but for many years I worked primarily in painting. For me much of that work remains to me, unfinished. Looking back, I was reminded that my connection to the camera was much more about my connection to painting. Me building imagery in photography that was rooted in my perspective on painting. At first, perhaps a bit unconsciously the works are based on traditions in painting…
In these new photographic images gathered from my walking commute I recently discovered an assemblage that held for me the aspects of how I might approach the canvas today. This chaotic realm that somehow made me feel connected to the teetering sense of identity... We struggle with understanding our connection to one another and ourselves and these wheat pasted advertisements, ravaged randomly by passersby remind me of that vulnerability and loss of control many of us confront…
Steven Duede, January 2024