Artist Statement
Mark Newton

Throughout my life of fascination with visual art, I developed a special interest in what I have come to refer to as "natural abstraction." During my career in the painting trade, my curiosity and aptitude for interpreting natural patterns turned into expertise in creating faux finishes and other specialized decorative arts techniques. Decades on, that career has earned me the freedom to follow my muse in a deeper exploration of this natural abstraction.

The natural materials I studied and imitated in faux finishes—marble, precious stone, and various species of wood—fueled my interest in non-representative abstract art. I developed a fascination with the textures and patterns created by the laws of physics and interactions of life, which are shared across nature, from the microscopic to the astronomical. In my own art, this intrigue has driven me to explore the intrinsic qualities and abstraction of these natural formations. 

Using many of the very same media and techniques as in my commercial decorative arts work, I’m especially interested in the ways these materials interact—various paints, solvents, varnishes, glazing and pouring media, as well as crackle media. My methods continue to evolve, from typical brushing, pouring, dripping, flinging, and spraying, to techniques for adding dimensional relief; using versatile tools like palette knives, cheese cloth, sponges, and even compressed air, I apply, remove, manipulate, and shape my work, sometimes adding acrylic modeling paste, or even torn bits of found material dropped or placed by hand. I typically work on canvas or panels anywhere from 4 inches to 4 feet. 

In my effort to capture this idea of natural abstraction, the most successful results are inventions of something new yet bearing the familiarity of something arising in nature. I want to invite the viewer to see nature in things we don’t easily recognize. I hope others will find these explorations as compelling as I do.

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