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Lew Hagood is
a graduate of Ohio State University with a degree in Art History.
He did
studio work at OSU and has continued to develop his painting technique
over a number of years.
His artwork, consisting of landscapes,
portraits, nudes, and abstracts is owned by the business community as
well as art lovers in the USA and abroad.
“Most of my work develops from an idea or a mood that I have as a result of exposure to some scene, some idea, some emotion, never a desire to reproduce something exactly as I have seen it but merely the gist of it. While most of us probably would not admit it, we don’t remember the details of what we have seen for the most part, only the fleeting glimpses of colors, shapes, lines, forms, etc. Think of your ride to work: we remember shapes and colors of cars, buildings, trees, people, --not that the cars were all foreign made or were mostly Toyotas or Chevys, whatever; not that the building was exactly ten stories high or that the houses were mostly ‘50’s ranches or cedar contemporaries; not that the trees were all sycamore or hickory; not that the majority of the people were talking on the phone and driving or even that there was only one person per vehicle…We remember the flurry of life through which we traveled –again, mostly colors, shapes, masses…”
“My work is more expressionistic than anything else, if it needs a label, and let’s face it: today, almost everything has to have a label. We are afraid of things without labels, without expiration dates, without a clearly defined list of contents and what we can expect from being exposed to it. That’s why some people are put off by paintings labeled Untitled. They prefer to be told what it is instead of having to come to grips with it themselves…
“To me, painting is very much like social interaction: what happens when we seat a black man next to a white man? a red man next to a yellow man? a tall man next to a short one? Or, a fat one next to a thin one? What happens when we place the black color next to white on the canvas or mix the two? Red next to yellow, or mix the two? A long stroke next to a short one? A wide stroke next to a narrow one? What happens when we mix all these combinations together or make selections for other combinations?
“When I get lost in a painting and feel like I’m not headed toward something that will allow me to feel it is finished, I do something BOLD to get back on course or to change course –it might be a violent, wide brushstroke of red across the entire work or splashing a white wash in the middle of it. I also try to keep in mind the old question, “How do you carve an elephant?” The answer was, “You chip away everything that isn’t an elephant.” So, I start washing out, scraping out, or painting out everything that is not what makes me feel I am headed in the right direction with the work. And, don’t we do that with our lives, occasionally, when we stop to reflect on where we are headed and if we are doing the right things to get there? So, to me, the painting experience is very much like the living experience.”
Afterthoughts:
Although I do it, I very much dislike putting titles on my work because it gives the viewer a preconceived idea of what it is they are looking at or looking for and if they see it as the title tells them they should, fine, but if not, they often are not happy with what they thought they saw or hoped it was or whatever. As if being content with it in their own way was not enough or even permitted…
Thank you for visiting.
The Defoore Center, Atlanta, GA ---2008
Grady Hospital Benefit, Atlanta, GA ---2008