studio 234b michael kudela
home gallery bio statement resume upcoming shows Links Contact Me michaelkudela@yahoo.com	Statement  Painting on found wood and paneling.   For me the process of art is made more interesting, more of an act of discovery if I use what is at hand- what is found. The found wood that the majority of my work is painted on has come from dumpsters, the street and wood-worker's dross. As I paint on an irregular shaped piece of plywood, I am able to reinterpret, the surface new and find personal meaning in what has been marginalized, lost, without purpose. Nails, cracks, knot-holes, the grain its self creates a sort of crude map for me to follow. My cartography is laid out in acrylic resin, bringing fresh plastic to old wood, investigating use and reuse. I want to know what can live again after a consumer culture has moved over an object, a trend,a body. I have the interplay of the objects history, and the the tone I've personally brought to the session. Art is and act of disobedience, a statement of liberty. Painting on these found surfaces is a seditious act, and for me is gratifying in a way painting on a pristine canvas is not.