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Statement
 

I. Content

Combining colorist and Constructivist techniques, I focus solely on relationships between visual elements. I do not intend to depict recognizable objects or to refer to identifiable subjects with fixed meanings. I avoid painterly effects and do not by design illustrate any philosophy, religion or political doctrine. Rather than signifying particular subjects by representing familiar objects in illusionistic space, each of my compositions presents its self in real space as a set of objects unmediated by gesture, narrative or ideology. The significance of these objects is as plastic as their forms, shifting from viewer to viewer and, for any particular viewer, from time to time. By visualizing his or her own meanings, each viewer actually becomes a unique contributor to the creative process of the composition.

   Copyright ã 2003 Howard R. Barnhart.   All rights reserved.  
Composition 2004n04a
multimedia array
 studio gallery, Tenants Harbor, Maine

  

II. Method

My method is highly inductive. I usually begin composing with a single color in mind. That first color suggests one or two others. I then develop each of these two or three original colors into a complex chromatic chord. From the interactions of those chords, I derive a grid. From this grid-structure, I derive secondary forms, which then determine the shapes of the color-chords. I don't compose forms apart from chromatic contrasts and the interactions those contrasts make possible. These initial interactions and resultant chromatic forms may suggest additional colors, which engage in further interactions generating more forms. Composition continues like this until all chromatic forms together achieve one of the dynamic equilibria possible to them. Thus, I do not work deductively from the generality of a predetermined format to the particularity of the forms it contains. My work proceeds from particular chromatic forms toward some unspecified set of possible formats.

  Copyright ã 2003 Howard R. Barnhart. All rights reserved
Composition 2004n01a
multimedia array
Studio Gallery, Tenants Harbor Maine

III. Form

These chromatic forms usually remain relatively simple, "geometric" shapes. Rhythmic forces moving within the color construction condition their geometric character.  This pulsation and its secondary vibrations create chromatic pressures within the surfaces that limit the complexity of individual shapes. Exploring chromatic interactions that make individual shapes more intricate disrupts those interactions and weakens the structural integrity of the composition.

The grid also appears to promote the formation of geometric shapes in my work. The grid, derived from the initial color-chords, is an elemental bridge between color and form. It mediates the relationships between the color-chords and the shapes they eventually take. In the process of correlating color and form, the grid in my work mandates forms that are almost exclusively geometric.

 Copyright ã 2004 Howard R. Barnhart. All rights reserved
Composition 2003n04a
multimedia array
Studio Gallery, Tenants Harbor Maine

IV. Medium

I realize my compositions in several media. I compose on computer saving each step as a separate file. I then develop these individual files into animations. From the animations, I identify pivotal states of the composition, which become sets of digital prints. From animations and prints, I construct reliefs in acrylic and wood. I do not treat prints and animations as blueprints from which to fabricate constructions mechanically. I use them as viewpoints of departure from which I project and visualize some of the three-dimensional implications of the composition.

Animations, digital prints and constructions are equally valid visualizations of a composition, and I consider each an independent work. The component pieces of a composition may be shown separately or in combination as a multimedia array.

Email rick@barnhartart.com

Copyright ã 2002-2007   Howard R. Barnhart.   All rights reserved.