Michael Stewart

Ideally, art creates itself, and the artist’s journey is about gradually abandoning preconceived notions and responding to the work as it’s taking shape. Most of my work is a combination of accident and plan. Periods of intense concentration and control alternate with periods of spontaneity but, in the end, the loveliest part of the composition is very often the unforeseen drip or the accidental juxtaposition. Sometimes I feel like the Japanese gardener who knows that a beautiful rock, created by God, is not art in itself. It’s the human choice to select a particular rock and place it in a certain way that elevates the natural into the realm of art. In the same way there are divine happenstances in the studio, and yet there’s also the human mind that must shape and respond to the process. The mystery of how an artwork makes it’s way from conception to completion is endlessly fascinating to me and is what keeps me returning day after day to my studio.