Norton Pease

Lives and works in Statesboro, GA, USA

Artist statement

As a visual artist, I explore connections between the past and present through paintings. I investigate these relationships through varied mediums, formats, and sizes, allowing me to delve into interrelated themes and different painting processes. My large-scale figurative paintings explore and challenge societal norms, drawing inspiration from visual artifacts of American culture that propagate social divisions. I use imagery from sources like children's books, comics, and advertisements as commentary, fostering dialogue between the viewer and prevailing ideologies encompassing political, social, and alternate realms. The imagery re-establishes its connection to the present through viewer engagement and by incorporating contemporary themes. As a painter, I paint repeated, thin layers or versions of the completed work to develop form and surface interactions of color. However, I sand those layers in my oil paintings and repeat the process until I reach the work's final form. The additive and subtractive process explores the connections between points in time, which is evident to the viewer when the works are viewed up close. As a result, the surface becomes essential, as it's where you can see the results of building layers and sanding them down to expose hidden layers. Adding and removing layers isn't just about the surface—which, in the end, is smooth yet visually tactile—it's about rediscovery: finding the painting within the painting and combining old and new.

Artwork