I call myself “Artist” for want of a better term. There is nothing self-evident in my creative work except the compulsion to do it. Through no intention of my own, I have been pointed out as something apart, a five legged calf, a monster. I have never fought for that position, nor do I do so now to keep it. Yet I may as well at times have felt the winds of megalomania sweep across my brow. But I believe myself to be immune. I need only for one second remind myself of the utter unimportance of art in the human world in order to cool myself down again. But that does not mean the compulsion does not remain.
-VARTIMMEN

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Asian Moonlight



20"x20"
Mixed media on canvas

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Angry Harmony


Mixed Media on Canvas
size: 20"x24"

Every now and then I think about the reasons behind the things I create. I paint love because I want to feel it, in just that way. I paint betrayl and lonliness as though my brushstrokes are a sort of talisman; I ratchet up their intensity, in hopes that I won't have to feel them myself, ever again. But if I do, I'll be thoroughly prepared. And I paintwonder because I never want to grow immune to it.

And sometimes I situate them all together on canvas or wood, creating an undeniable
Angry Harmony.