The Weekly SentinelDecember 22, 2006

Kittery Art Association Features Abstract Artist Steven Mutch

Artist Steven Mutch, a Kittery resident, isn’t your average painter: While most artists choose a subject to paint and focus on just one. Mutch decides to add in more than one subject . . . and different items. Sure, he’s painted many works of art that portray the stillness of lily pads in a pond or the serene look of the ocean, but lately, he’s been taking a different approach and calls it “graffiti surrealistic abstract.” Moving toward this technique, Mutch thinks it allows him to be “more free” and when someone views it, it seems to be “more alive, it’s not just a pretty picture.” While Mutch has no plan and nothing in his mind before he paints – sometimes he’ll even meditate for about 10 minutes prior to picking up his paintbrush to clear his mind, he ends up creating an abstract image that can be viewed by multiple people in many different ways. “I just start painting,” said Mutch. “Abstract art . . . there is no plan. Sometimes some of the end product isn’t abstract, some is more surrealistic.” One of his paintings is called “Sea Dream 541” because it’s an abstract painting of the sea and the different creatures living in it, but the number 541 is significant. “There is actually $5.41 in the painting,” explained Mutch. “There’s a $5 bill in the shark’s mouth and the 41 cents is elsewhere in the painting.” Other objects in many paintings of his are glass, screens, saw dust, saw blades, mirrors and as he puts it “recycled junk”. He’s even used heating elements from the top of a stove that had been discarded. He blames using some of these objects on “some kind of insomnia.” When creating abstract art and having people view it, Mutch would rather not tell people what it’s about, instead, he likes when people get whatever they want to get out of it. “I have a painting called “Falcon Devil” and some people saw an owl, others a dolphin,” said Mutch. “People see all kinds of stuff and I think it’s great.” Most people have a person or two they are influenced by – Mutch has his, artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Salvador Dali. “I love their work and I think mine is similar to theirs.” explained Mutch. On his web site, Mutch puts it into his own words what his work is all about. “My work is an impulsive assault on any object or surface that can embrace the perplexity of A Random Thought. I meditate in front of one of my ample blank canvases, when my mind is as blank as I can make it. I attack the canvas with an explosion of color: I then stand back and survey. Sometimes the ingredients of my mind have already started to laminate or illuminate the surface. I then might interlace these subdued images or layer more color, eventually more images flourish, disappear, or converge . . . I try to paint from feeling and mood and let the brushstrokes that are already on the canvas dictate my next move. The objective of my abstract expressionism is to evoke some kind of feeling from the viewer: I want my art to pulsate with feeling to be not just viewed but the viewer be embraced with sensations of any kind, or many kinds, that will remain with them long after the viewing.” “Overall, Mutch is just “driven to paint.” Steven Mutch and Peter and Polly Moak will be at the Kittery Art Association Gallery for a New Year’s Eve reception on Sunday, Dec. 31 from 6 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. It will be on display until Sunday, Jan. 28.

By Magen Petit editor@theweeklysentinel.com