Gallery: Andre D’Amour
Artist Statement
Art is my passion and will always be part of everything I do. I love the journey my palette takes me on. From vivacious reds to subdued blues the colours intermingle amongst themselves into a fluid composition that takes each observer on a different journey. For some, the colours are their vehicle, for others, the motion of the brushstrokes. Every interpretation is unique and yet, all instil an emotion that is true to the individual who looks upon it.
Mood and environment always play an instrumental role in the finished piece. Some days there is a tranquility that paints a serene space on my canvas whereas other days paint a more tempestuous composition. This emotion that lives within the abstract is what drew me to the style many years ago. It makes me constantly challenge myself to see my surroundings in new ways. What I am looking at matters little compared to the emotion it reveals. Working from memory, small sketches or photographs I try to capture that emotion and reveal it in its abstract form.
I paint with acrylics, ink, and various other mediums to give texture and depth to my paintings. Paint can be applied in translucent glazes for depth or thickly to give it texture. The paint is scraped, dripped on, blended, and manipulated, to achieve the look I want. My colour palette ranges from intensely bright pigments to a more muted and subdued range of earth tones. Using anything from brushes, palette knives, and paint rollers, the energy and emotion around me paints itself on the canvas.
About the Artist
From the moment I could hold a pencil my mother always made sure that there were enough arts and crafts supplies in the house to keep me occupied. My mother was artistic (she enjoyed painting with oils) and she encouraged my artistic side. For me drawing was an outlet and emotions, good or bad, always had a way of translating themselves to the many drawings I did.
As a young adult out of high-school, priorities changed and work took up the majority of my time. I didn’t have nearly as much time to draw but still managed to scribble in my sketch book every now and again. The creative bug never left me though, and it found its way into my life wherever it could.
I fell in love with abstract artwork in my mid-twenties. I loved the emotions that they projected using only colour and random brushstrokes that was so different from the drawings I had done in the past. It was then that I decided to revive my artistic side by creating paintings that stirred the raw emotions of others the way that so many abstracts had done for me.
Today I balance my time between my day job and being a self-representing artist painting from my home studio in Carleton Place, Ontario. My home studio allows me to more easily balance my work and family life with the joy of painting an ever expanding body of work. I’m blessed to have an area of the house that I can walk into and just let things flow regardless of what my inspiration strikes.
Inspiration for my artwork comes from so many different places and life experiences. Living in the country provides me with the lush colours and organic landscapes that often find themselves brought into many of my paintings. Working in the city brings about the more jagged and geometric influences seen in others. Mood balances out the emotive side of my creations and is indeed the engine that drives the entire composition. I draw from all of these sources to create interesting and thought provoking paintings.
Find Andre at www.damourfineart.com or at www.facebook.com/emotionsofcolour