Artist Statement - Urban Landscapes
Urban landscapes of solitary freeway structures on empty roads and uninhabited terrain were the focus of my work during 2000 - 2003.
This work - void of vehicles, road signs, and recognizable landmarks - is the study of form, composition, and space within the context of the evolving Southern California landscape. While the depicted landscapes pertains to a specific geographic region, it also reflects upon universal aspects of structure and uncertainty.
Artist Statement - Abstract Paintings
Informed by my daily practice of seated meditation and arising from the earlier urban landscape work, my non representational work began in 2003 and explores the universal aspects of structure/variation, separateness/interconnection, and control/uncertainty.
Through the use of an underlying grid structure, compositions are created by correlating random number sequences with different hues and/or different values of gray.
Though not yet included on this web site, my new work since 2004 no longer uses correlated random number sequences. My current work incorporates repetitive applications of acrylic paint within the structure of gridded canvases. This work continues to investigate what happens experientially and visually when rigid boundaries of structure become integrated with a repetitive process marked by interconnection and human variation.
About the Artist
John Margaris, originally trained as an electrical engineer, left an automotive engineering career in 1997 and began his art studies in 1999. He presently is working toward a BA in Art at University of California, Riverside. He currently lives in Pomona, California.