Ben Boothby - Pool Shimmers & Dry Heat

The goal of this series is to communicate a vision of memories as we see them in our minds. Memory is built up layers with shifting degrees of focus, spatial ambiguities, and scattered truths. Memory is in flux, when we try to pin it down to examine the details, it will not sit still.
These paintings push the potential of illusion and spatial depth, inviting the viewer in while also confusing any sense of solid ground. This complex puzzle mimics the pulsation of a memory vibrating in self-contradictions.
In one approach, architecture rendered from memory provides the framework for improvisation, the push and pull of breaking that logic apart again. In the other, pure abstraction plays over a structure of wood veneer. These constructed panels extend illusion out into our physical space with looming angles, they have a different form of communication to offer.
Ben uses acrylics to build up an active ground of organic gestures. Oil paints are layered on top of that to create luminosity and colors specific to the memory.

Medium: Layers of Oils over Acrylic, on Inlaid Veneer Panel

Dimensions: 53" x 83" x 5”

Artist: Ben Boothby