Stephen Maffin
As an artist I have as much trouble explaining my art work as an art critic might have creating art. Any of my explanations come after the fact and are not related
to the process of creating. It is easy to relate facts. I can tell you that I began using plaster on burlap because I was trying to imitate the surfaces I saw in photos of paintings by a Spanish
artist, Manolo Valdez. He used great masses of oil paint on burlap, letting the raw textile show through and the thick paint crack as it dried. I remember thinking that seemed very expensive to
me and I thought I'd try mixing up some plaster instead. Then, other things began to happen, and now I'm doing the kinds of images presented here that look nothing like Valdez's
paintings.
