Geralyn Inokuchi

Inspiration for my work comes from what I observe on my daily walks along the Oregon Coast.  Recently I realized that I cannot not paint a storm. Part of that must be the influence of living on the Oregon coast where the environment can be extreme. But it’s not only my natural surroundings that inspire me. I also think the storm I paint has to do with the political and social environment we all experience right now. The world for me has to be processed and released through painting. It is the only way I can articulate the world I observe.

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My approach to a painting mostly begins with the impressions of color, movement and texture I observe from the environment around me.  These impressions are used as a foundation for an expressionistic painting capturing gesture and line.  There is depth too which is created through a process of glazing and building up layers of paper and paint through experimentation.  These layers create the paradox of something extensively worked yet simple in its appearance.  In my current work I have tasked myself to use a limited palette to narrow my focus so I can concentrate on contrast and movement.   When I work I always feel as if a painting presents me with a puzzle that has an infinite number of pieces and also an infinite number of solutions. When I choose a piece of the puzzle, the solution begins to form; yet it can all change at any moment with the next piece that I choose—so the experiment continues until suddenly a solution is within sight.  The result is a piece that has a clarity and is evocative of lives within our environment.

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-Geralyn Inokuchi