DLGRANT FINE ART
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The artist
Darryl L. Grant
Darryl L. Grant was born in Prince George, British Columbia in 1966. He is an emerging Canadian abstract/expressionist painter exploring the powerful affect that a piece of art has to summon what he describes as "textured memories". His painting endeavors to evoke snippets of a memory of a smell, a touch or a mood; drawing these up in the viewer, imbuing the painting with a small shard of the viewer's own personal story.
Grant's childhood was filled with creative writing, poetry and sketches. Imagination and story telling were the thread throughout his pre-adult years. Entering the workforce diverted him away from that creative process, yet storytelling and sketching still occupied his free time. After working for many years as a tradesman painter, he then built his own company which eventually focused on artisan-level faux finishes. Mostly self taught and with some courses at the Chicago Institute of Fine Finishes, the creativity of faux finishing rekindled his imagination and artistic craving. This gave him the jumping point to fully express his artistic vision of evoking memories of story and atmosphere through acrylics and canvas.
Currently, D.L. Grant resides in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada where he works at his in-home studio.
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An artist's statement
The why of it
I try to make each painting personal to each viewer. By drawing up snippets of their memory of a place, a time, an event, even just a smell or feeling, it makes the piece tell a story for each individual and makes it very personal to them. These stories are memories made up of combinations of touches and tastes, sights, sounds and smells. At just the right time a particular flash of light, color or scene can evoke a memory that is so strong it floods our senses with remembered mood and texture. These can be delicious moments when we almost re-experience the smells and sounds of the past memory. We can feel the temperature upon our skin or the tactile feeling through our fingertips. These all flood back to us re-awakening that little shard of story of how we felt in that instance of remembered time. It is exquisite.
A piece of art has the power to evoke such incredible responses, to tell such wonderful stories. It can be something as simple as the tint of a color or the shapes therein. It doesn't matter the style of the piece or the technique or medium used. That is why I, in general, try not to get too specific with my imagery. I don't want to force the narrative. Even the name of the piece can create narrative and though I do name them, it is often with some disquietude.
When a work of art evokes vivid memories, to me, it becomes imbued with a part of our life's story and forever carries that meaning. It no longer is simply a painting on the wall, but has meaning and hangs there to say something special. It now fills it's area of influence with a snippet of a story. As you gaze upon it or catch sight of it from the corner of you eye, that story is retold and the feelings of the story wash over you. Now, not every work of art has such power for every viewer. The triggers are as varied as the individuals viewing the work. When you find anything that evokes such a unusually strong response, it should quickly be gathered to your person and cherished.
My hope, my goal, is that my art will catch the viewer's eye, spark that powerful and flooding remembered shard of time with all it's textured memories and create a pleasurable space for the eye to land upon. Thus making it yours... meaningful.