Flower Power
Abstract doesn’t necessarily mean up for grabs, some wild, no-rules splattering and smudging of paint. It’s more a process than a visual style. “Abstraction is the filtering or breaking down of visual information,” says painter Benjamin Schmitt. “I tend to start with an image and then modify or reconfigure it to suit my composition.”
Under consideration today: Schmitt’s abstractions of flowers, his half of the new two-person exhibit, Frozen in Flux, paired with sculpture by Benjamin Johnsen (December 6-February 10, with 5:30p reception December 6, in the Centennial Hills Library, lvccld.org). “I like to pull from nature, seeing as I’m drawn to organic forms and patterns,” he says. Already amorphous, flowers are ideal for a method that involves pooling and dribbling paint — a process open to serendipity and improvisation, “the creative process being equally important as the finished piece.” It’s about an emotional response, he says. “As an artist, I look for a sense or feel that moves me.”