Fred Stonehouse: Artist Statement for ‘Signs and Souvenirs’

 I’ve never really taken the world at face value.  Since I was young, I’ve looked for what was just below the surface or behind the curtain.  For me, reality is a mask that covers up what is really going on.  The realm I imagine is as real as anything to me.  In these new paintings, many of the figures are represented in a somewhat fractured state.  Some of the characters are dissolving; almost ethereal, as if in transition between planes of existence.  I’ve always been interested in the idea of a spirit world; ghosts and such, and often feel like that is what I’m after.  Hybrids and half breeds show up as well; again, the idea of transition and transformation.   Maybe, if we look hard enough, or out of the corner of our eyes, or perhaps if we could roll our eyes back into our skulls, we would clearly see the place that I imagine.  In this place, things are skewed, but familiar.  There is humor, sadness, love, pain and joy; all seen more clearly due to the strangeness of the surroundings.  I visit this strange place for a while each day, and the paintings serve as artifacts, signs and souvenirs that prove I’ve been there. I used to tease my kids by telling them that if we could ever learn to use our entire brain, we would be able to fly and see spirits.  I’m not so sure that I don’t half believe in that idea.