Trace Logan

I am an abstract artist who works primarily in acrylics but I will employ whatever other mediums are necessary to achieve the desired effects.

 

All art is a form of communication but, for me, abstraction is art stripped down and simplified to its most basic elements. Essentially it is the alphabet of visual art and just as nothing is communicated verbally or in writing without combinations of the 26 letters of the alphabet, nothing is communicated in art without color, line, shape, texture, space, rhythm, harmony, contrast, and balance. I utilize those 9 principles in an attempt to communicate with an audience while simultaneously trying to avoid the contamination of culturally loaded objects, telegraphing my own prejudices or schemata, or magnifying the viewer's preconceived notions.

 

However, even in abstract art personal predilections surface. My main areas of interest in my pursuit of a Psychology degree were cognition, identity, and perception and, as all three are large topics within the field, cognition and perception were typically studied through their relationship to identity. Personal identifiers may become stronger or weaker as we age, move to other places, or experience new situations. In addition, what we believe about ourselves, how we self-identify, may not be how we are perceived by others and in some cases those misperceptions may even be beneficial. The area where personal identity collides with public perception can be rife with highly nuanced, multi-layered conflict. Preferably in contrasting colors.

 

My artwork often contains incongruities or outright conflict between the strata and that allows me to explore the process of layering colors, textures, and images or shapes as I continue to explore identity, this time, through art. What elements are visible (public identity) vs. what elements are obscured (private identity) and how to best tell both stories is currently driving my art practice to mix abstraction with figurative art and to consider even more diverse mediums such as light.