Gregg Emery

The process of drawing involves chance meetings, encounters and questions in the public realm…the subway, restaurant, bookstore or even walking down the street...for this project I tried to reconnect with people face to face, first virtually through facebook, then up close and personally with drawing. The world of my painting exists in the private world of my own aesthetic yet athletic endeavor. I seek to simplify my gesture to its purest form but am also continually drawn to layer and complicate things. It is beauty that I seek. Inspiration for color comes from the world around me…advertising, movies, even watching a video of NASCAR driver Michael McDowell rolling about 20 times and walking away from his car as it burst into flames….for me all of these are riveting events and bring me one step closer to that ‘perfect circle.’ I invite chance into my painting. The more I attempt to assert control, the more I struggle in the work. The chance happens with the layering and the use of pieces of wood to create these circles. I am never sure how the paints will truly work together in my quest to be perfectly human which is ultimately imperfect.