The Through Line New paintings by jim flahaven

May 1 - 31, 2025

Opening reception, Thurs., May 1, 5-7pm

ARTIST STATEMENT

It’s nice to occasionally step out of the sphere of content-driven work and just look. In my own practice I’ve been slowly shaving small pieces of meaning away, and aspiring towards something that is meaning-less and fully rooted in the experience of looking: What happens when those two colors are placed side by side? What happens when this shape interrupts that shape? What I hope for is a kind of visual pinball, where the eye pings from one thing to the next, triggering in the brain some kind of bing or chatter or whoop. The paintings that have that effect on me are those made by artists who found themselves in a place of transition, sometimes with considerable growing pains (there is a long list of mid-century modernists who fit the bill). The tension, stress, and physical energy manifest in these works both amaze and delight me. I suppose one can find in this work a metaphor for the condition of modern life, with its accelerated pace and constant change, and the notion of competing ideas and ideologies grinding against one another.

That sense of transition or awkwardness is what I try to sublimate into my work. I mostly make paintings that have no reference to the world around us. The paintings are about visceral reactions to paint, perhaps nothing more. My paintings should be filled with little contradictions, reworkings, and the kind of spatial logic that only exists on canvas. Working this way allows me to be completely engaged in the moment. Whatever frame of mind presents itself on a given day will be applied to the painting. This is important. If I were a realist, once I had nailed down the basic structure and story of the piece I’d be essentially trapped or forced down a very narrow pathway for the remainder of the painting. Working non objectively allows me to be completely engaged in the moment. There is no need for me to force myself into a frame of mind that I may have established (and subsequently abandoned) weeks prior.

Still, I’d be lying if I said that I was unaffected by what is unfolding today. None of us gets to work in a bubble. While the works of art may be a respite, or an attempted escape from the events of the world, the artist absorbs dreadful news daily. Those areas where the paint is ground into the surface, or where I’ve scraped and sanded and scraped some more? That is a little manifestation of anxiety, worry or anger being released from me and distilled into something interesting, gnarly, expressive. Maybe that is an area of visual emphasis. Maybe it is a howl.

~ Jim Flahaven

Jim Flahaven is an artist and educator living in Maine. He has exhibited his work in Canada and throughout the United States. He attended the University of North Texas where he received his BFA in Drawing and Painting in 1986. He received his MFA from Ohio State in 1988. He has taught at numerous colleges and universities including Clarion University, the University of New England, and the Maine College of Art. He currently teaches painting, drawing, color theory, and design. He has written for ArtPapers, and is the creator of drawingforum.net, an online resource for drawing instructors and drawing enthusiasts.