SO MUCH MORE THAN just a skin clinic…

Strother Dermatology is not just a regionally renowned dermatology clinic, it’s also an art gallery featuring the work of extraordinary artists. With over 60 pieces on display by a single artist at one time, your visits to Strother Dermatology isn’t just self-care, it’s a visual journey.

2024 Featured Artist

JW Harrington

Personal statement from the artist:

In my years of painting, I’ve enjoyed using color for its emotional and visual impact, emphasizing the visual dynamic of solid blocks of complementary colors.

However, since late 2020 I’ve wanted to remove the symbolic and emotional connotations of color from a series of abstract paintings – so that the viewer has even more freedom to interpret each composition. That’s my joy in viewing nonobjective (totally abstract) paintings, and my motivation for painting nonobjectivity: the power that the viewer must interpret the composition. Perhaps you see it as some object(s); perhaps you imagine a set of forces; perhaps you revel in the symbolism you attribute to the arrangement of shapes; perhaps you perceive shapes that aren’t even there!

As a painter, I want to give you the power to see whatever images, symbols, or interactions you need to see in my compositions. This is why I decided to paint with a palette limited to black, white, and grays mixed from them. Thus, the variables at play were value, shape, and the combination of shapes to form a composition. From the beginning, I decided to limit my shapes to basic geometric forms. While many of these monochromatic paintings use a range of values from black through gray to white, most of the individual geometric shapes are solid, with no value gradation within them.

Before working on the canvas, I sketch each composition – roughly at first, to develop the balance of forms and values that I want, and then in exact scale and value. Each painting is thoroughly planned. However, there is a “discovery” stage when I study the finished painting in each of the four orientations afforded by the square canvas. I select the final orientation based on its psychological and interpretive impact. I want to maximize the impact of each painting, but I don’t want to determine the nature of that impact. .

More information, including ways to purchase work by JW, can be found by contacting Ryan James Fine Arts.