Artist Interview – Richard D Tourtelot, painter

Name

Richard D. Tourtelot

Location

Coral Springs, Florida USA

Website

www.rdtourtelot.com

Brief artists statement

What is the purpose of art if not to document and interpret human experience? As an artist, this is a weighty premise in my work. Over recent years, I’ve been compelled to paint the human face, enchanted with the story each brings the world. My artwork concerns our emotional experiences; stripped down, and exposed for subjection. I am interested with the value of our expressions and the deep connectivity we share.

Often received as having a dark value about it; a combination of the imagery and the style in which I paint (moving around the surface of the canvas with deliberate quick strokes) my latest series has been called ‘intense, beautiful, fascinating, colorful, haunting, and mesmerizing.’ The technique is deliberately narrative allowing the viewer their own experience with the painting in the realm of their own familiarity.

 

My paintings are created with layered acrylic paints and varnishes. Preparing the paint for brush loosely translated to a ratio of 60% combined varnish and liquen base in relation to 40% pigment. I found this blend particularly attractive for its translucent and unpredictable quality, agreeable to the process of layering. This also permitted the salient colors beneath the surface to provide a fullness and complexity of color adding to the craftsmanship of each piece.

 

These particular paintings have been a labor of love. Meant to invoke a reaction (of any kind), start conversations, and remind viewers of their own humanity.

 

How did you become an artist? Did you always dream of a life in the art-world?

As a young boy, I spent countless hours losing myself in imaginative play and found myself naturally harnessing that in creative ways. I spent much of my childhood in discovery mode distending my mind’s eye; taking things apart to learn how they worked, inventing new games to play, and so on.Ultimately however I found solace expressing myself through art. What began as hobby, a distraction even – drawing and doodling alongside the margins of notebooks became a lifelong passion, a way to chronicle my experiences and make sense of the world.

My path to becoming an artist was by all accounts an ordinary journey; it was just the natural ebb and flow. I cannot say that I ever dreamed of having my paintings on exhibition for others. I always considered my works extremely personal and created them for no one other than myself. In many ways I am grateful for this as I never felt the need to ascribe to anyone’s ideologies of what art should be, or painted anything based on what I thought I could sell, something that you see much more of when you view art as a business. Only recently have I come to recognize that my art should be shared. I’ve come to appreciate that we all share connectivity to the human experience. It’s the tie that binds us as humans. It’s raw, its familiar, and it lingers with a profound resonance.

 

How has your education helped your career?