My aim is to create deeply personal work that speaks about the soul of America.
Throughout my life I have spent a great deal of time on the road. My art is a distillation of that experience through the filter of my memory, my imagination and my hand.
Although there is an aspect of cultural anthopology in my work, I have to experience a profound personal connection with my subject. That connection can be as intrinsic as a part of my personal history or it can be an emotional response to a particular scene. This emotional response is what I try to convey through my paintings. I’m seeking to evoke a certain mood through the limitations of paint and my style of realism.
For me the most satisfying way to get at the mood I am trying to convey is through a representational approach. Although I’m interested in the craft of painting and I try to create well-executed art, my paintings are not just about painting. They are also very much about the subject. Not a literal representation, but one that contains a feeling that comes from the heart.
-Jeffrey L. Neumann
