Artists Statement
My work has always been concerned with everyday life. A city street,
the interior of a market, a woman sifting on her front porch with
her child. All these scenes move to the cadences and rhythms emerging
from the soul. The interior landscape hungers for full expression
in lite through movement and change, silence and learning, giving
love and receiving it. By exploring the infinite varieties of nature, that
hunger is satisfied and if we follow our inner convictions allowing
the unknown to become known, the reward is a true companionship
with inspiration.
This sense of rhythm is inspiration coming to meet us. It is
a beautiful dance to which we are irresistibly drawn and is the genesis
of learning. I wanted. to emulate this dance by creating forms that
invite the viewer to move, to engage with the imagery and therefore
the themes and principles in an emotional and visceral way- The
movement of the canvas is meant to symbolize the eternal fact
that change is the foundation upon which nature flourishes.
These shapes are somehow reassuring. They seem as familiar
as a rolling hillside that is already known. This feeling of reassurance
is a strong foundation that allows an experience of powerful emotion
to enter the soul with meaning. Essential truths and principles
have always existed and we discover them by experiencing the vast
chain of circumstances that form our daily lives, fulfilling our inner
desire to improve. lt is this improvement that I am attempting to
convey no matter how difficult the subject.
So I choose to paint people in their daily experience because
of the inexhaustible source of meaning that comes out of human
interaction. The sculptural canvases that I paint on are intended
to enhance the subtle forces at work in our lives and to make
them more evident, The volume of these shapes adds a quality of
weight to the people and places in the paintings and the fact that
the surfaces are constantly moving in a curve, gives that weight
an airy quality or as Milan Kindera writes, "a lightness of being."
It is the combination of this soaring airy quality and the solid weight
of the forms that for me emulates the contrasts inherent in the
human condition. Depicting principles and themes ranging from
innocence to racism, parenting to childhood, integrity to ignorance
and an and on becomes an exciting task of learning for me; a learning
that is enhanced by the physicality of the canvas.
-Roy Buchman, 1996
ROY BUCHMAN
BORN 1952, Newark, New Jersey
EDUCATION
1972 Atelier Garrigues, South France
1974 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Syracuse University
1976 Master of Fine Arts, Otis Art Institute
EXHIBITIONS (selected)
1996 Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, one-per-son
The Coagula National Juried Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA
1995 Group Show, In Motion, Huth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1993 Pierce College Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Lowe Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, one-person show
1992 Nemiroff-Deut5ch Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1991 Art Store Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1990 Rico Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1988 Downey Museum of Art, Downey, CA
Orlando Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1987 LA Theater Center, Los Angeles, CA
1986 Diem Esterhazy Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1985 LA Artcore, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art Rental Gallery, Los Angeles,
CA
1984 Los Angeles County Museum of Art Rental Gallery, Los Angeles,
CA
1978 8th International Print Biennale, Krakow, Poland
1977 54th International Print Competition, SAGA, Now York, NY
1976 43rd Silvermine Guild Print Competition,'Connecticut
1975 3rd National Hawaii Print Competition, Honolulu, Hawaii
1974 15th National Print Competition, Nashua, New Hampshire
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Nancy Kapitanoff, "People of L.A. on Exhibit", Los Angeles Times,
December 3,1993