untitled: works by Geoffrey Stocking

Artist Statement

The underlying focus of all of my work is the interactions that colors have with each other and their relationships with the world around them.  Conceptually, traditional color theory, the behavior of colors, and the human perception of color plays a large role in the works.  I’m fascinated by the effect and impact that color can have on people’s emotions, especially on a psychological level.  Color can change a person’s mood.  Certain colors can make a person feel happy or somber, others, peaceful or energetic.  They can overwhelm or calm your senses, or make you recall a memory from a certain time in your life.  Based on a person’s physiological perception, everyone has their own connection to color which can be intensely personal.  Ultimately, color can profoundly influence the way we see ourselves and the world around us.

Employing a glazing technique inspired by the Italian Renaissance painters, these non-objective paintings are created by the building up of numerous translucent layers of different colors. The mixing of actual colors is very limited. It is through optical mixing of the different thin layers that the final color is perceived.  

Geometric shapes also play an important role in the work. They allow for the creation of separate, contained areas of color that seemingly only mix with the other layers within that shape.  Most are not closed shapes, and left open to continue off the side, giving the illusion that they are unfinished and possibly part of something larger that cannot be seen within the constraints of the canvas’ edge.  The color spaces and lines are wrapped around the sides of the canvas, with the intention of creating something that goes beyond the two dimensional and lives somewhere in between a painting and a sculptural object.  

Within the compositions there is a play between organic and in-organic shapes, simple and complex color spaces, and light and heavy lines.  All of these elements together, along with the colors used, create a push / pull between the negative and positive spaces, the foreground and background, ultimately creating depth and visual hierarchies.  

Biography

Geoff Stocking is a contemporary artist, known for his non-objective, vibrantly colored, geometric paintings. Stocking was born and raised in Missoula, Montana.  He received his BFA in painting and drawing from the University of Montana in 2004.  He holds a Museum Studies Certificate from Mesa College in San Diego, CA and has completed coursework in industrial design at MassArt in Boston, MA.  Stocking has worked in the museum field for nearly 25 years, where among many other responsibilities, he designs exhibitions.  

He has exhibited his work in numerous museum and gallery based solo and group exhibitions in San Diego, CA, Oceanside, CA, Boston, MA, Missoula, MT, and Great Falls, MT. His work can be found in several private collections in, Montana, California and Boston, as well as, institutional collections in Boston and Great Falls.  

Major artistic influences include color theorists/artists like Joseph Albers, Richard Diebenkorn, Paul Klee, Anne Truitt, Sean Scully, and Sol Lewitt, among many others.    

For more information:  

Website- https://geoffreystockingart.weebly.com/

Instagram- geoffstocking_artdesign

Email- Stocking55@gmail.com