The Abstract Art of John L. Payne: October 2013

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Into the Shallows - 9 x 36 x 1.5 - Acrylic on Hollow Door Panel - $165

After fishing all day and catching almost nothing we headed back to the boat ramp about 10 pm... There was a bright yellow spotlight hitting the water and as we pulled the boat up the ramp I went over to make one last effort before heading home. As I approched the shore I started seeing dark shapes moving in the water and soon realized that they were walleye searching the shallows near the shoreline for shad. I stayed there for almost two hours watching the fish; sometimes close enought to the shore that I could have scooped them out with a dip net! (not allowed by law...) Some of them were nearly three feet long and they paid absolutely no attention to me at all. I ended up catching only 2 (by accident I am sure) but getting to see them so close up was a real treat for this nature lover. About a week later I started an automatic or expressive painting and this is what emerged. As the painting was only 9 inches tall and fish shapes were emerging; I thought back to that night and the fish in shallow water...

Beneath the Thermocline - 34 x 36 x 1.5 - Acrylic on hollow door panel - $525

This last summer I started fishing again for the first time in about twelve years and I had a blast. It all started with the white bass in the spring and I fished a lot in the rivers heading into nearby Stockton lake at that time. In early Summer we would fish the lake and stay near the shoreline and around cover. By mid June it started getting harder and harder to find the fish as they started going deeper in search of cooler water. One day I was fishing near a bridge in a really great boat (not mine, i do not have a boat) with a state of the art fish finder. I noticed that for the first 20 feet or so of water, that there were barely any fish at all but below the 20 foot mark they were just thick. I didn't catch many fish that day but it did inspired this painting so all ended well!

Artist Bio

Born in Oklahoma, John Payne began drawing and painting at the age of six. Though educated and involved in the arts well into college, his life and career path drastically changed when he enlisted into the United States Nuclear Navy at the age of 21. As a submariner, chemist and nuclear plant operator, safety became an integral part of his daily life. After leaving the Navy he followed a similar path working in radiation/chemical safety and ultimately as an Environmental Health and Safety Manager for over 20 years before returning full time to his passion as an artist. John is motivated by the works of the mid-century expressionists and current abstract artists alike. While some of John's work is pure expressionism, many of his pieces are more ordered in their chaos. This effort to control the abstraction with a sense of “boundaries” is reminiscent, states the artist, of the efforts we all make to live passionately while still attempting to conform to moral and social responsibilities. John’s work is thought provoking and often littered with social and philosophical commentary. As a Navy veteran John has traveled across the USA and to other countries as well, experiencing sights and cultures which have served as inspiration to his work. After 20+ years of working in the corporate world with art as his hobby, John has recently abandoned “the grind” to pursue his work as an artist in earnest. He offers that the decision was not only overdue but "very liberating". John lives in Springfield, Missouri with his wife Pattie and two dogs.