In the Studio with Geoffrey Moss
June 7th, 2023
Geoffrey Moss virtually sat down with us to discuss how his work has progress throughout his career, his creative process, and what success means to him.Painter Geoffrey Moss’s work straddles a line between representational references abstraction. A self-identified colorist, Moss explores the interaction between shape and color through his creative process.
How has your work progressed? How has your practice changed over time?
“What’s past is prologue…” (Shakespeare, The Tempest, 1564-1616) No series ever leaves me; I continually return to the visual vocabulary of past pieces, abstraction follows. The progress of my work is based on my previous works, a searching to distill the essence of a subject. I become my harshest critic, not always moving forward but going back and exploring.
Witness my “Black Drawings” series; begun at Yale, there has always been a tug to simplify negative and positive space. Critically I am considered a colorist; I often feel color is a trap, it can become a sentimental, romantic, “pretty” device. Since my early 20’s I find that Black pigments allow me to get to the essence of form. Exploring each subject to it’s fullest, is like using new words in my visual language. My series are my constant addition, part of the Opus. There’s a lot of skywriting, and shadows before I commit to canvas or paper. New bodies of work inescapably reference “past bodies of work” that live with me.
How do you balance art with your daily life?
I don’t and never did. My life and my art are inseparable. I’ve never lived a balanced life. “Balance” implies regulations. The only requirement I have is to spend as much time in my studio as I can and I have enough paint to make mistakes. My studio is a home. Safe. A silent place. I even created monthly newsprint protest to pay for the paint. MOSSPRINTS, my syndicated captionless political satire distributed by The Washington Post for some 25 years while simultaneously painting in my studio 24/7. Finally making the choice to paint full time.
As an artist, how do you define success?
Success is not fashion; it should not put any artist on an inescapable treadmill. I’d be a fool to not recognize financial success, however my work must be an honest portrayal of who I am, that’s probably a measure of success.
What artist(s) or movement(s) has influenced your work?
Influences are like religion; they’re there. I admire the following masters for their editing, all editing out the frills to get to the essence of their vision. They are my visual poets.
Puvis de Chavannes, The Bauhaus Movement, Edward Hopper, Alex Katz, Frances Colburn.
Describe the concepts/motivations behind your work/creative process.
Tradition has chosen my medium for me Painting is tangible way of showing my thought. A process of vision gathering, which can often be dream like; obsessive. Creating a painting originates with hundreds of drawings of various themes. The motion of the brush with oils and oil pastels show graphic energy. If it drips so let it be, no retracing; once the statement appears, that’s it. There’s no coloring book. Confirming the need to show the viewer that I have been there. Painting with thin layers of oil purposely letting colors merge and drip.
My drawings don’t have pristine borders, the lines are never erased it’s simply; I was there that day. A mark stays there; it’s the “History of the piece”.
What thoughts go through your mind when you create?
That the paint I use remains consistent from tube to tube, that my brushes are always better once they are worn down, that makes for faster movement without dragging on the canvas. I listen to jazz mostly piano. I’m unaware of my environment. My studio is more cluttered than most; I’m obsessed with shelves and containers filled with antique toys, tins, and paper ephemera. When I create, I’m in the four sides of my canvas or paper, not inside my studio. I’m only aware of the theme I’m painting and wait for the unexplainable “magic”. I move the paint to be true to the theme and not digress from it and hope that I will astonish myself and not destroy the work.
Geoffrey Moss
Geoffrey Moss
Geoffrey Moss
Geoffrey Moss
Geoffrey Moss
Geoffrey Moss
