Alan Neider: There Will Be Lamps - Artist Statement

 

For years I have been fascinated with, and influenced by, the fashion industry, especially as it relates to women’s fashion. The aggressively unique shapes created by the use of textured, patterned fabrics speak to me. I am in awe of the craftsmanship, care and labor it takes to create one-of-a-kind garments.

In the studio, I cut shapes from the huge pile of fabrics I have collected and sew them onto moving blankets, which serve as the substrate. The colors, patterns, and heavy quality of the cloth form a visually complex surface to paint on. In fact, in a sense, I am “painting” with the fabrics. The thick paint itself is often integrated with the fabrics; but just as often, the paint and the fabric seem to go into battle with each other. This fight/conflict/anti-harmony sets up a tension in the painting that becomes an important part of the work.

I am in pursuit of my own language, which not everyone will understand. While my work is primarily about “painting”, I see it located at the nexus of fashion, textiles, crafts, and contemporary art. I am continually inspired by new art I see in galleries, museums, the streets, and art magazines, and on the internet. Art that I don’t understand, images I have never seen, materials I have not heard of - these serve to “push” me forward, and to shift my thinking, encouraging me to come at my work from a different perspective. I don’t want to settle for anything too comfortable or too familiar in my art; I want to create art that is surprising and unsettling. If people stop and LOOK at my work, then I feel I have been successful.

Another important factor is my attempt to expand the boundaries of what a painting can be. When I think to myself, upon entering the studio, turning on the lights, and looking at the work on the walls, “What the hell is this?” - then I know I am on the right track.

My interest in painting originated when I was given my first set of number paints when I was five years old. Mixing the paint, its smell of oil wafting up, and actually painting on a canvas board - it was all too thrilling. I have been making art ever since. Unless I am creating a site-specific installation, I work in groups - usually in series of ten. I feel if my ideas are strong enough, they need to be explored, expanded, and mined to the fullest.

Pictured: Alan Neider, Paint & Tar 4 - Fabric, jute sacks, tar, paint on moving blankets - 80" x 65" x 3" - 2017