Geoffrey Hunter
Bio
For Geoffrey Hunter, the process of painting is archaeological. Archaeology is the uncovering of what has been lost: all the conceits of modernist purity, transcendence, and identity. The archaeologist transforms remnants into treasure: the debris of civilization is categorized, named, and classified, until it finally becomes Art. These works are a conglomeration of mistakes, erasures, forgotten gestures and the debris of a visual culture found in books, manuals, science, video games, even the Internet.
Similar to the society’s reliance on the computer, the computer has become an important tool for the artist. While the computer becomes the inward focus to a microcosmic realm, Hunter’s paintings reach outward to a macrocosmic phantasmagoria. Painting becomes the outward convergence to a macrocosmic combination of real and imagined images. This evolution from copier, to projector, to computer has fueled Hunter’s fascination with the cultural and aesthetic importance of imagery.
Hunter’s most recent paintings continue his exploration of the relationship between painting and digital media through color, texture, and surface. The first step of the process begins with older paintings or past images – sometimes historical images, sometimes the artist’s own work. Through a series of underpainting and overpainting, adding and subtracting, canceling and editing, the final work emerges.
Works of Art
Artwork Information
New Toy, 2013
Oil on Canvas
60 x 60 in (152.4 x 152.4 cm)
Provenance: Purchased from the Artist