Jason Dunavin

Since painting became a part of my life, I’ve been learning technique, reading books, buying (and buying) art supplies, taking lessons, and painting.

It occurred to me to ask: to what end? What’s this all for? What will I actually do what all that knowledge, technique, and experience I’m acquiring?

One is that I want someone to see themselves in my painting. To see a story, see a feeling, see a memory. I want someone to forget they are looking at paper and paint in a frame and instead remember something of themselves that goes beyond all that.

Another thing is that I want to be honest with and true to myself. That is, I want to show my own true feelings of a thing or a place in my paintings. I want to say things that mean something to someone, and I may not know how to say them otherwise. The things I say may not be what’s taken away by the viewer and that’s okay.

Finally, I want to show – and maybe more importantly, reaffirm for myself – that there is beauty and art everywhere and in everything. Any person or thing – a flat expanse of prairie – an alley with piles of junk – anything – can make us feel or see something. Anything and anyone can carry meaning. Every person has both the right and the ability to see it and to be seen among it.

I feel that if I keep those principles close I’ll become a better painter. It has to translate eventually through a brush and paint and paper, and I’m set on figuring out how to do that.