Werner Thomas 

Artist's Statement

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     In these tumultuous times, I am witness to a world of unprecedented upheaval. Humanity faces challenges, as history shows, and questions pre-existing order. From the people I know, to strangers, the news, on the streets, on television, everyday life, the natural force of these unsettling energies take hold in my work, sweep over me, and engulf my mind.

                                                          

     My Eris series, as in my Omayra work, the impact of life, death, rebirth, change and transformation take on a balance of both color and darkness, of sadness and exuberance. Through the explosion of shapes, repetitive forms, I use my color choices and tone nuances to remind those looking closely that all matter has its own living aura.

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     CHAOS or DISCORD, Eris, the Greek Goddess who smite ancient times, stood for the disorder and utter confusion that preceded the existence of the ordered universe. The Eris Series fluid shapes are forms that are not specific or referential, which allows for a high degree of openness and flexibility; they are shapes as meaningless as one can get. Abstraction is not the psychological theme, rather universal actual experiences. In ways that are both comforting and easy, the overlapping of similarities and dissimilarities that occur in the Eris drawings, on both a material and a visual level, are a confrontation, a question of figure or ground. These visual and tactile effects of the shapes and ground are visceral, as are our reactions to the world events confronting us.

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Werner Thomas

2020