John Fields  statement and resume


statement

New Paintings, New Me, New You

My work deals with opposing forces. Whether it be the fundamental contrast of black and white, the humorous and the horrible, the sexy and the disgusting, the manufactured and the gestural or even a painting and its viewer; I think art is at its best when it presents both sides of the question and forces those opposing sides into a single gestalt unity.

When asked by someone who has never seen them, I often describe my paintings as elaborate paint-by-numbers. I always begin my work in my sketchbook, which happens to be an Apple Macbook. I create my images using a combination of raster and vector based photo-manipulations and drawings. I then attempt to recreate the digital image using traditional art materials and processes. I am fascinated by the subtle tension created by my flawed attempts to hand-paint the digital image as accurately as possible.

While my interests in contrasts are primary, I cannot deny the political, social, racial, and psychological undertones present in all of my work. I almost never assign specific meaning to the art while it is being created. I prefer to become instinctually consumed by the imagery and processes of creating the work, allowing myself to reflect on meaning and concept only after the work is complete. As with most art I find interesting, the work simply reflects how I consume and process the media, contemporary culture and my surrounding social and political environments.

New Paintings, New Me, New You is the first completely new body of work I have done since we moved into the so-called ‘post-racism America’ last November. Like a lot of my previous work, my figures confront the viewer directly but with a level of disconnect and menace. They hide behind masks or have exited the picture plane altogether leaving behind fragments of their former faces and stark
shadows of their human frames. This work continues my exploration of the theme most persistent throughout my work; the opposing forces that shape and inform the contemporary human experience.

resume

Education

2007             M.F.A., emphasis on painting and video. University of New Orleans.
2003             B.A., Art Studio, emphasis on drawing, University of Alabama at Birmingham.



Selected Exhibitions
* denotes solo/ two-person exhibition

2011
“pulp: works on paper, works with paper” beta pictoris gallery, Birmingham, AL
“Burrows 2011 Contemporary Art Annual” The Burrows Center for Fine and Performing Arts,
          Hanceville, AL.

2010
“Dear Chuck: a love letter in five parts” beta pictoris gallery, Birmingham, AL. *
“Biagini, Choi, Echols, Fields, Fox, Neel, Rieger” beta pictoris gallery, Birmingham, AL.

2009
“Two Eyes, a Nose and a Mouth” UNO St. Claude Gallery, New Orleans, LA.
“Mixed Bag” Galerie Gigi, New Orleans, LA.
“New Paintings, New Me, New You” Bare Hands, Birmingham AL. *
“I’m gonna just sit here and wait for that thing you said would happen to happen”, The Bottletree,
          Birmingham, AL. Two-person collaborative show with Valerie Corradetti. *

2008
“this would be nice if it were true” Homespace Gallery. New Orleans, LA.
          Two-person collaborative show with Valerie Corradetti. *
“Hand To Hand: Witnessing The War. 100 Artists’ Comments on the Iraq War”,
          Nation-wide, traveling exhibition.
“Jessica Bizer, John Fields, Rachel Jones, Alex Podesta”,
          Arthur Roger Project Gallery, New Orleans, LA.

2007
“UNO Fine Arts Faculty Exhibition 2007” University of New Orleans. New Orleans.
“John Fields, Alex Podesta and Monica Zeringue” Galerie im Andechshof,
          Innsbruck, Austria.
“A Time for War or Peace: art that confronts the realities of the present”,
          Space 301 Gallery. Mobile, AL.
“Newer Versions of the Same Thing”, MFA Thesis Exhibition,
          University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA. *
“It’s OK to Just Hang Out”. University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA.

2006
“This House is Made of Water” Stealtharts Gallery, Birmingham, AL.
“MFA Works in Progress”. University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA.



Exhibitions: Curated

2007             “It’s OK to Just Hang Out”. University of New Orleans Fine Arts Gallery.
2006            “This House is Made of Water”. Stealtharts. Birmingham, AL



Awards

2011             Nomination: Catherine Doctorow Prize for Contemporary Painting
2007             Nomination: Luis Comfort Tiffany Award.
                     Winner of Artvoices Magazine emerging artist exhibition competition.
                     Artist in Residency. University of Innsbruck.
                     Emerging Artist Award, Magic City Art Connection.
2006             Best of Show, Magic City Art Connection Juried Festival
2003             Ellen Takahashi Award for Painting.