Artist Statement

I have discovered that the way things look is significant - that their essences are visible to those who take the care to think and feel about what they see. Structure, color and gesture are especially revealing and I use these in my paintings to evoke the presence of my subjects. In this way I consider myself a realist.

While being true to personal experience, I prefer to work with subjects that have not been treated as art before. I choose images that are personally compelling, often not realizing why they are so. Images that are startling, that pierce the skin of consensus reality are the most interesting to me. To reveal the magic in the mundane is satisfying.

I have great respect for the history and craft of painting. To be especially creative is not my goal - my work is more expressive than innovative. I work directly with my materials, exploiting their intrinsic characteristics. Although I first worked in oil, I have been especially drawn to watercolor. It’s clarity and transparency encourages me to see though surfaces to what lies beneath. I work from a variety of sources - life, photos and memory - most often combining them in the same painting. The juxtaposing of seemingly incongruent elements sometimes occurs. I am not satisfied until the synthesis transcends its source(s).

Out of all of this - image, form and process - feeling is communicated. And if feeling can’t be put into words, then so much the better. Braque once said, “The only thing that counts in art is the thing you can’t explain.” Through the practice of painting I discover aspects of reality that I hadn’t realized before. From the intensely personal, one sometimes stumbles across the universal. Painting is my way of knowing.

Robert Houck