Some thoughts on "Style"

Style is a word that often comes up in the world of art. I remember a discussion about style during a college critique with then-Pomona College professor Enrique Martinez Celaya. We were talking about what exactly "style" was. One conclusion was that style was the result of what kind of questions the artist asked him or herself while working. I remember suggesting that perhaps a good artist's style was the result of asking several questions at once so as to render the style more sophisticated. Today as the question came up for me again, this argument sounded silly.

I've been working on a series of six paintings of Idaho landscapes. Because they will be displayed together, I want them to be cohesive. For this reason I've tried to complete them in a relatively short amount of time and keep the process as consistent as possible - working at the same time of day, same types of reference images, etc. At first I was concerned because each seemed to come out very "stylistically" different anyway - some more gestural, some more refined. But after a bit of consideration I realized that there was an underlying continuity that tied them together and I ended up being pleased with the variation. This scenario has been common for me - my work has varied wildly over the years in what is commonly known as style.

My current thoughts on the topic is that the goal should be to move beyond "style." I'm trying to think of  something more satisfying to strive towards in my work. Style is something seen and then applied, a technique copied, a "look" attempted. True vision is the outward expression of one's inner lens. It happens without trying.

For me the most effective way of discovering what I will call my "inner vision" rather than "style" has been to take a scientific approach - to limit variables in size, medium, and subject matter so that I can instead concern myself with how exactly I am seeing things and then translating them into my own language of paint. Then I can become more internally focused as I work, taking comfort in the consistencies I've created for myself so that within those structures I can explore and express the particular beauties I see in the world.