John Wells
I make paintings, drawings and combine paintings that unite painting and sculpture. The work is process based and experimental in nature. Visually, the work focuses on composition, lines, layers, textures, and a variety of forms. For over 20 years, I have had an Essential Tremor (ET). ET is a genetically inherited progressive neurological disorder, causing uncontrollable shaking, primarily in my hands. Even with medication, the tremor reduces my ability to use small motor skills, limiting my ability to draw freehand and tightly control images. As my tremor progresses I rely less on small tools and more on larger tools that allow the simultaneous use of two hands, such as plastering trowels, and tools I make to guide my lines and the application of paints. I am also gradually exploring new materials for line and form making, including common, easily found materials such as cloth, paper, wire and wood.
Conceptually, my work explores the conflict of chaos and control and the changing value of objects. I’m interested in things that are unchanging, permanent and universal. They have structure, simplicity, and control. I am equally interested in things that are random, intuitive, unplanned, and disordered, even chaotic. What we work so hard to control changes and becomes an unknown. What we value today we discard tomorrow. The content of my art is about these conflicts and changing values. The visual resolution of these conflicts results in the language of my paintings. Ultimately, I find beauty in the simple structure within our lives and I find joy in the unexpected possibilities that fate provides.
