Expressionism

I've often shunned labels because I feel that they almost always seem to reduce a person to a word or a handful of connotations that then become inescapable. From and artist's point of view, there is nothing more important than growth. Being self-taught, my technique has always been trial and error (although it's debatable that there could ever be true error in art). Nonetheless, I have worked exhaustively to be truthful with my expressions and have remained staunch in remaining true to who I am through my art — all the while shunning labels. I have been asked ''what is your style'' and often did not know how to respond. But upon reading a simple definition and taking a deepdive into my paintings, I have shifted my opinion of labels and embraced one relating to me as an artst.

According to Wiki: ''Expressionism is a modernist movement (...) Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas. Expressionist artists have sought to express the meaning of emotional experience rather than physical reality.''

According to Britannica: ''Expressionism is an artistic style in which the artist seeks to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse within a person. The artist accomplishes this aim through distortion, exaggeration, primitivism, and fantasy and through the vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic application of formal elements. In a broader sense Expressionism is one of the main currents of art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and its qualities of highly subjective, personal, spontaneous self-expression are typical of a wide range of modern artists and art movements.''

Simple paragraphs that ring true several times over about me as a painter and my art. One theme that hasn't wavered within my paintings is emotion and my attempts to accurately capture it. As an emotional artist, I can't help but let that ooze out into my paintings — It's as natural as a bee pollinating a flower.

So, considering all things that go into my art, personal perception and surface aesthetic of my modern works, Expressionism is the appropriate label to use regarding what category the style of my paintings fall into.