Artist Talk
Michael Dickter
On Art and Healing
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
“I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.”
– Georgia O’Keefe
Prior to starting this body of work I had been recovering from major surgery. As I healed I watched a world that felt broken and wounded. Painting birds and their meditations of beauty and fleeting time seemed unable to speak to what I felt. After months out of the studio, something new was needed. I wanted to paint freer and welcome spontaneity.
I started to paint large animals not knowing where it would lead. Images of wildlife contemplating flowers emerged. Along with it an apt metaphor for renewal, aging and yes, healing. Looser mark-making and colors depicting emotional states came into focus. These paintings are painted fast and with intention. They are a dispatch from the road. It is where I am today.