Brad Overton

In my search for meaning and joy in life, I have become a painter. I have found both there.  But really, I have found all of life there.  In the creative act I have continuously cycled through the struggles and rewards that are the common experience, every day. There are moments of quiet peaceful meditation and freedom from anxiety as I paint in deep flow for hours at a time.  I go under the spell and forget to even drink water.  And there are other days when doubt grips me and the brush and, I can’t get it back.  And I can’t get back.  Mostly though, the days are on my side.  Either way I don’t resist the experience.  It’s the way it is.  My paintings are all realistic.  The ideas I think of show up that way so, that’s how I paint.  All of my dreams are in realism. The whole world, in fact looks pretty realistic to me.  So I’m interested in that.  I’m interested in the choices I can make, the inventory or “visual vocabulary” I can build which is unique to me but, still accessible to those I come into contact with through my paintings.  At times, I choose subjects or arrangements because they are funny which is essential and miraculous.  Other paintings are meant to host the sublime, which is the undercurrent of our world: its origin and mystery.  Other paintings are meant to remind the viewer of an aspect or attribute to lay claim to.  But the common thread is that they are meant to serve the viewer. 

I paint paintings that I want to see, ones that I can’t wait to paint.  I simply trust my own interest and taste, hoping others will come along.