Secluded Place by John La Huis
John La Huis
Every artist at MAC tends to favor particular elements. And similar to Frank Arnold’s adoration with numbers, John la Huis has chosen color for his deep symbology. With well-intentioned colors and materials John speaks through the conceptual, using the fragments of initial draft ideas as pieces of a more vast completed work.
Huis’ MO is to create sort of a sixth sense for the viewer. While he does this he also works to birth a new language through the nonsensical, transforming it into a sensible realism though conceived in unreality. John La Huis allows his work to “become” much the same way an author allows the novel to write itself; the characters to speak for themselves. They reveal their identity and purpose in their own time as the author listens. So too does Huis allow the same freedom to his paintings, by turning a keen ear to the voice of the work.
Huis views colors in a mathematical sense, essentially painting by numbers. He adds all that he wants and subtracts the superfluous.
The colors that call to be included, the textures that scream out for their turn to marquee across the canvas–Huis allows them their opportunity. Secluded Place is a prime example of colors, textures, and materials saying what they need. The painting uses a deep yet bright blue to configure both the tranquility and despondency that can be found in solitude, or that may drive one to solitude. A viewer may also be transported to whatever that secluded place is for them, such as a vast body of water and white sand shore.
What do you see?
