RICHARD HERMAN, painter

   The  painted surface of a canvas suggests the space, light, and form being represented, but this suggestion can be either too much or too little. If too much information is given, the viewing eye has no role to play. When the viewing eye has no role to play, the image appears "realistic", yet somehow lifeless. Photo-realism falls prey to this deadness at times. At the other extreme a painting can be so impressionistic that the viewing eye needs to search and project the image being suggested. Between these two extremes there is a middle point where the painting suggests just enough, with a perfect economy of means, to meet the eye exactly half way.  The viewing consciousness then completes the image perfectly with its own life. The painting appears as a living reality because it is the viewers own life that is being experienced. This middle point is something I've hit upon a couple of times, and it is a fine balance. Practising the craft at this point of balance is my goal in the studio.