Often when we stand before nature, taking in the beauty and grandeur, we feel deeply connected to the magnificence of creation. What we view and feel in that moment is fleeting, however, and in the time it takes us to complete a breath cycle a leaf has fallen, the light has shifted, or a breeze has rearranged the foliage. Later, when we recall the experience, we don’t remember each leaf or twig or rock, but the essence of nature’s beauty lingers within our soul.
In the same vein, at any given moment, a city can be alive with feeling, movement, activity, and pulse. Things don’t stop. Life doesn’t stand still. When we recall an experience in the city, we recall the feelings we experienced but we can never capture a moment unchanged.
Whatever the subject, I don’t strive to paint static scenes. The goal is not to paint each leaf, twig, rock, or capture each building, person, or streetlight. My painting style uses movement and representation to create loose, moving, and evocative images. I paint to nudge the beauty, lingering within the soul, to life. I paint to evoke memory and feeling and meaning.
I like to think of my paintings as a love letter to the people, places, and moments that make up the human experience. A single painting might speak a thousand different stories to a thousand different people. Nevertheless, a painting can remind us that, although our stories might differ, we are all connected. The experience of being human makes us one. – Steve Griggs
