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Troy Viss
- b. 1961, Walnut Creek, CA
B.A., University of California, San Diego
Currently residing in Turlock, California
Current work is focused on the nature of light in an abstraction of the traditional landscape. I paint with inspiration that comes from observing and documenting the passage of time; through the changing seasons, on the surfaces of a city or landscape, and across the terrain of popular culture. My intent is to create art that people will want to live with, visit often, and rediscover at varying degrees of distance and resolution.
I'm influenced by the entire spectrum of Gerhard Richter, from his blurred figurative and photorealism to his abstracts and everything in between. I'm intrigued by Franz Kline's "practiced spontaneity" and his focus on the movement of the brush and use of the canvas. I study Howard Hodgkin's application of color, and the balance that he achieves between big dramatic movement and subtle, delicate expression. I especially appreciate his reference to inspiration through memory and emotional situations, "painting the way it feels" as opposed to the way it looks. Other influences include Donald Sultan, Mark Rothko, Willem DeKooning, Phillip Guston, Robert Motherwell, and Robert Rauschenberg.