By the Book: Stanford Kay

I don’t always read Artist Statements but sometimes one just describes the artist’s work and vision so perfectly that I don’t feel like there is any way my words can improve upon it.  Such is the case of New York artist Stanford Kay.  His artist statement was so completely lovely, I’d like to let him speak for his own work.

What I Know About Her, acrylic on canvas, 50×60

“At first, there is paint and desire. Paint is applied, removed, and applied again.  It makes suggestions. It is edited without mercy. The image and the need to signify arrive later. Books as images within these paintings offer formal modernist possibilities while also serving as an embodiment of content.”

Bacillus, acrylic on canvas, 36×40

Secret Passage, acrylic on canvas, 36×40

“Both paintings and books are vessels for ideas, experience and memory.  The books we read and the paintings we love and choose to live with, 

define us.  A book requires the reader to assemble images and ideas out of its signs and symbols. Likewise, a painting asks that you translate its strokes and drips into reason and emotion.” — Stanford Kay

Legends of the West, acrylic on canvas, 36×48

To see more of Stanford Kay’s work, please visit his website.  Doesn’t his work make you want to cozy up in a library and read all day?

Featured image is What I Know About Her ( detail ).  All images are via the artist’s website.