Thomas Paquette

My only academic diversion apart from art was when I studied to be a naturalist. To this day, much like the lessons I hungrily absorb from the long history of painting, nature continues to be my teacher - as well as my enduring painting subject - because it astonishes me daily. And just so, paint itself is a central part of my fascinations, as it is a material expressive as the earth, or biology—a central insight I take from Modernists’ work. It is not just a mimetic or storytelling exercise.

Similar to the relentless reworkings of nature, in my studio I paint and repaint, build up and scrape, only to rebuild and repaint again, until the painting assures me it can stand on its own many legs, and is ready to move out.