John Funderburg Artist Statement

Artist Statement

I approach landscape painting, in a contemporary moment of turmoil; where the human presence has put pressure on ecological systems across the globe. I want the images I create to reflect this interruption of the natural world. One way that I achieve this interruption is in shifting the physical surface of the painting from a stable and predictably flat panel to a series of panel fragments. The division of the landscape is made manifest in the work. The landscape resting atop an unstable and often fragile foundation of recycled materials: cardboard, MDF, or other waste.

The world that we were born into is fundamentally different with our presence in it and we can no longer approach old problems with old solutions. As we sustain the barrage of natural disasters our resources and our ability to respond diminishes. Which is why in my work, I want to focus on the reconstruction of the landscape after these interruptions. The work I am currently working on is landscapes on panel, where the panel itself goes through various forms of trauma in which I collect the fragments, debris, etc, and reintroduce to the painting through mixing with paint or nailing it to the surface. The landscape, the painting, and I are forced to adapt to the erosion of our interactions.