Robert Hardgrave's Biography

Recently, my studio practice has led me into new territories. Where I once pre-planned an idea before painting, I now require myself to approach what I’m doing as an “unknown.” What begins as a flat painting can now become something else entirely. I allow myself the freedom to explore different configurations. The canvas is a starting place for a conversation that leads me to new insights about pictorial and sculptural forms. Pieces become surfaces that I can “destroy,” only to take their remains and build something new. Where I once tried to present answers with my work, I now find myself asking questions about what I can do with the leftovers, how I can reconfigure the scraps and how it will change the way I paint. Cultural motifs from around the world have inspired me for quite some time now. I’m interested in marks that are made on baskets, textiles, and vessels. I utilize them as starting points when I paint. Most recently, I’ve been drawn not just to those marks, but also to the objects on which they are painted. This trajectory of thought has had enormous implications for me. I wonder how I can take this idea of the “object” in its sculptural form and present it as a painting. Can I present these objects as vessels for ideas? Can I take all that I see around me in the world and present it as something hopeful? Can I take my failures, the destroyed relics of my new transformative studio practice, and create triumphs of both form and spirit?