Richard Lapham

richardlapham.com

In my painting practice I explore unconventional methods of defining a space by combining and responding to layers of painting, photography and digital media. Through a process of scanning and digitally manipulating a painting, I obscure the distinction between traditional media and digital form and in doing so create an ambiguity that challenges my understanding of a space. As I develop my paintings through cycles of building up and flattening a spatial plane, I actively consider how my mind engages with and interprets the interaction of mixed media.

I address these interests in my current body of work by deconstructing and reclaiming figurative poses through layers of digital abstraction. First, I simplify and accentuate the gesture of a figure using oil paint, pastel, and ink and while still partially wet, scan the entire work and digitally manipulate the image. With respect to how each alteration affects the sense of depth, I adjust hue, value, and pixel characteristics, and respond to these changes on a printed version of the painting. Working through several cycles of scanning and painting I aim to achieve a sensibility that combines the immediacy, expression and depth of paint with the flatness of photography. Above all else I hold a preference for expression over information and look to artists Cecily Brown, Willem de Kooning, and Larry Poons for their expressive mark making and inventiveness.