BARRY MALONEY Gallery of Fine Art

Copyright 2005 Barry J. Maloney

Artistic Philosophy
Fine art is a way of coming to grips with the inexplicability of living. Enigmatically, to the human mind's logic, existence is factually impossible; that from nothing came something (the universe), or conversely, that everything comes from an unbeginning source. The dualistic nature of human thought is unable to ever comprehend the core mystery of the existence of either self or matter. We are a mirror looking at a mirror, trying to reflect back on ourselves some sort of truth, grasping at comprehension.

My art is a form of visual philosophy from which I've gained insight into my existence by exploring my identity, imagination, and consciousness, then reproducing my concepts in visual, physical form for contemplation. Working in a generally nonfiction style, my subjects are derivative of experience and the mysteries of my interior universe. Philosophical self-honesty being my artistic goal, meaning and truthful communication of personal reality are the consistent factors in my art.

My work is neither purely objective nor purely subjective, as I believe that in the extremes of perceived objectivity lies subjective human thought, and vice versa, that in the hyperpersonal often lies the most objective truths of humankind. Nor is it primarily stylistically driven; as style merely gives expressive form to a concept, I strive to choose the style and medium that most directly conveys my inner vision and the sentiment of the piece. My hope for the future of art is much the same as my hope for humankind, that is, not just another series of styles, but a resurgence of interest in substance.

My technical goal is to invent unique compositional structures that pleasurably glide the eye over the painted surface using movement, color, and counterbalance in a visually renewing ride intended to delight the mind and spirit. Looking and searching, intuiting and simply enjoying the movement of the design, the willing viewer may be pleasurably hypnotized and drawn deeper into the painting, into the contemplation of meaning and inference, and finally into a substantial state of communication between the artist's mind and their own. Substance exists in the invisible realm of mind and spirit where human beings communicate and exist together outside of time for a short period. Taken into a contemplative state they may think freshly without the limitations of verbal language, open up to the unnamed, the intuitive, and consider the meaning and subtleties of existence embedded in the paint, ideally culminating in the highs of estheticism.

Challenging Banality, or, How Big is Your Thought?
I reject the belief that canvas and 2-dimensional arts are exhausted or at some postmodern endpoint. If anything, painting and drawing is still at the beginning of its development and evolution in human history. All banality and belief in banality comes from a lack of imagination and a loss of wonder. Wonder itself challenges banality and simplistic irony, making them cease to exist, disappearing like a whiff of smoke when the breeze begins to shift. True artistry comes from an inexhaustible source, the limits of imagination, expression, experience and meaning.

Instead of requiring the viewer to do mental acrobatics to justify the work intellectually, I attempt to challenge them directly to consider the subtleties of existence and psychology embedded within the paint and themselves. The esthetic thrills gained by the physical creation and contemplation of painted imagery are such gratifying pleasures to the artist and art lover, that one needs only sufficient sensitivity to become hooked. The reality of the world is that only a small percentage of all people are truly interested in fine art, and it is for that group that I create, those who still wonder; the curious and engaged. I wish to give them ecstasies, insights, and the highs of true estheticism.

In summation, my goal is a nonverbal communication between the audience and the absent artist, who leaves a record of his conscious life force pouring visibly out of canvas, into the eye and heart of the viewer. My work and all art is part of a continuum of thought stretching out both behind and ahead; from the cave paintings of Lascaux to the temple art of India; to China, to Leonardo, Bruegel, Modigliani and Pascin, and to ourselves today; vaulting toward the future. I wish to add my voice and the substance of my existence to the stream of human consciousness communicating across time, both as a form of service, and as an immortality through the sharing of self.