John Torreano

Artists Statement for EAST END ARTS exhibition DETOUR IV

Whirlpool 1 2021 

46 x 138″ 

acrylic and gems on plywood panels

The Whirlpool Galaxy, inspiration for this painting, was discovered by Charles Messier on October 13, 1773. It was the first galaxy identified as a spiral galaxy. The object is 28 million light years from us. It is 76,000 light-years in diameter, give or take a few feet. Yet, under the right conditions, it can be seen with binoculars and amateur telescopes. 

For me it is exciting to have visually accessible images that are specific and yet essentially abstract. Most of my sources come from the Hubble and Webb telescopes. I read to deepen my understanding of these objects but my primary interest in them is how they offer visual and imagined opportunities to expand painting.  

Through the material means of painting I try to make work become a physical equivalency of what they are, to generate an empathic connection to the objects, their magnitude, beauty, and their violence.