Terrell S. Minton

When I paint, I’m an explorer in uncharted and unknown territory. Fluidity, a willingness to take risks, accept and welcome change - these are essential in my search. When it feels like I’m lost, small, quiet threads, gleanings from the painting itself, following intuitive inclinations require a listening state of mind and keep me going while I’m working. I’m like a dog catching a scent and following it. Don’t stop, I keep moving, following my instincts while not ever knowing what’s around the next bend.

Getting lost becomes familiar. How can the essence of a sensation or the memory of a sound or the feeling of a dream state be expressed in paint, color, shapes or marks? Constantly experimenting, the process is an active and intuitive game of call and response, breathing and listening, letting the painting guide me.

Abstraction offers me freedom and the excitement that comes from something experienced that is totally new, never having been seen or put together quite like that - whatever 'that' is - before. The freshness of the process and getting down to the essentials is what keeps me going and I hope that whenever I do reach a finishing point, there’s a bit of that searching and mystery still there.