Lars Westby

Artist Statement

This is a recent series of Paintings I have been working on after having created Ceramic Sculptures for many years. There are two series of paintings. One series are the Droplet Paintings and the other one is High Relief Painting that I present here. I was inspired by an epiphany one day and decided to create a series of paintings based on this moment.

The Droplet Paintings are created by dripping thousands of droplets of paint through a grid onto a canvas. This is done repeatedly in layers of abstract patterns. From this an image emerges from the droplets. It’s about paint and mystery and what people find in the droplets.

The High Relief Paintings have a high relief of “frozen drips” that protrude from the surface of the painting like a blizzard of stalactites. The effect is a highly textured vibrantly colored surface that speaks of paint as the painting. They have what I call a “three dimensional pixelated/pointillistic” surface. It’s about “seeing” paint and what it reveals. Perhaps this is what a painting created by nature would look like.  Although, primarily abstract, a vague image appears through the multi layers of paint and color. What is the image? Why is it there? These are some of the questions I would like the viewer to ask.  I like to think of these works as eluding to elements of Impressionism, Pointillism, Abstract Expressionism and, Color Field but in a high relief 3D sensibility.  

www.larswestbyclay.com | Instagram: @westbylars

Biography

Lars Westby was born in Bellefonte Pennsylvania, USA. He earned a BA in Art History and a BFA in Ceramics from Penn State University and an MFA in Fine Art from the University of Colorado, Boulder. After receiving his MFA he worked on boats and on restoring historic homes in Maryland and Pennsylvania for a number of years before moving to Baltimore, MD to work as a full time Artist.

During this time he worked primarily in creating large ceramic sculptures often done in multiples. These works have a biomorphic/industrial feel related to where he grew up and his travels. Conceptually they talk about work itself and the relationship of the hand in creating.

After having an inspiration/epiphany of sorts he began creating two series of abstract acrylic paintings. One series involves creating a high relief surface of paint that protrudes from the picture surface like a field of colorful stalactites. The other series is created by dripping thousands of droplets of paint on a canvas through a grid/screen. The droplet paintings are highly colorful and abstract yet allude to something in their layers. The effect is a mystery of image and paint.  

Westby has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally and has received numerous national awards and honors. He has received three Maryland State Individual Artist Awards in 2005, 2007 and 2012 and was a Baker Artist Award Finalist in 2023, 2022 and 2019. He was a former resident artist at Baltimore Clayworks and was a guest artist at Tainan National University of the Arts, Taiwan, in 2007. He teaches and lives in the Annapolis/Eastern Shore area where he works as a multidisciplinary studio Artist in Ceramics and Paintings.