About
Edward Sellery grew up in southern California. His parents were educators, his mother an English professor and father a superintendent of schools. He studied painting at U.C. Irvine where he was encouraged by Via Celmins and influenced by Ed Moses. In the mid 70’s he moved to northern California to practice an eastern style of spirituality. He found work in the back office of stock brokerage firms but never stopped painting. For Edward, abstract painting is an outlet, a source of inspiration and a way to make sense of the world.
Why I Like Abstract Acrylic Painting
Think about abstract painting as a game. The elements of the game are the materials of the craft; paint, canvas, etc… as well as the traditional visual vocabulary; color, value, shape, etc…. The rules of the game are invented with an uncertain outcome because a predictable result would offer no surprise. Indeed the quest is for the elusive and sublime surprise, for the pure, pristine, primal moment.
Painting is a marriage of process, color and form. But where to begin? When I have a visual idea I lead with design and I aim toward the integration and interpenetration of process, form and color. When my visual idea is vague or I want to experiment with texture I might lead with process and then the composition tends toward the sensual, the gestural, the organic. In either case the method is play and the purpose is the pursuit of wonder, beauty and pleasure; wonder for the mind, beauty for the heart and pleasure for the body. The creative process both for the artist and the observer has the potential to being immersive such that the sense of self and time is suspended ushering in a sense of freedom, well-being and renewed energy for life’s possibilities.