The Work of J. Paul Fennell
Concerning his art, the Abstract Expressionist Mark Rothko remarked in a Life Magazine article in 1959 that “a painting is not a picture of an experience; it is an experience.” After contemplation, I found this statement intriguing to say the least. And significant: an experience as noted by Rothko is the type of creative exercise I strive for in the process of making my work, the culmination of which is a sensation of great satisfaction and fulfillment in translating an abstraction into a tangible, visual and tactile object.
The process begins by being inspired from influences of the natural world and of my own memories/experiences of the past. These sources provide an almost infinite reservoir of ideas and concepts from which I prepare for the experience of making. Being acutely aware of one’s surroundings and experiences with an open mind—something the photographer Freeman Patterson calls “the art of seeing”—enhances the creative process, and is requisite. Then, through visual and tactile senses, an observer of my work is offered emotional links to the experience in an easily-understood “language.”
Specifically, my work references both nature and life’s experiences--or more exactly a simultaneous combination of both, but not necessarily of equal proportion. Also, inspiration does not necessarily happen instantaneously, and can often be “diffused” over time, softening the sharp edges of reality, and rendering the essence of the inspired idea or concept more abstract.
In the de la mer body of work, images of ocean waves and reflected random patterns of light were likely integrated into my childhood imagination from living on the East Coast, whereupon the Atlantic Ocean was virtually the “front yard” of my home. It is a bit ironic that, years later, the process of making pieces for this series takes place in the dry Sonoran desert of Arizona, several thousand miles distant, the inspiration being “triggered” while casually observing similar wave/light pattern reflections at the bottom of a swimming pool.
With the Fatehpur Sikri piece, the inspiration resulted from memories of touring the old abandoned city of Fatehpur Sikri in India some years back. What fascinated me mostly were the intricately carved piercings of thick marble screens on a mosque within the city compound, intended and erected for the original artisans and construction workers. The screens were massive and thick, but seemingly delicate and sufficiently “transparent” to allow observers to see inside without intruding upon the sanctity of the place, or of the worshipers inside. The pierced vessel’s surface also allows the observer to peer inside, which is perceived to be the “quieter” side of the vessel, a kind of sanctum, which was my impression of the screened mosque in the first place.
For the series entitled la passion de mon père (my father’s passion), the work is a tribute to my father, an avid lifetime gardener. The inspiration comes to mind from multiple sources: that from my interest in nature at an early age--instilled by my father, memories of him enjoying the simple, ritualistic act of toiling in his garden just for the love of it, and the decision to use floral carvings for the piece, reminiscent of an earlier twentieth-century artistic style, which seems appropriate to me in evoking an experience of the past.