Artwork Title: Moonlit Two-step
Artist: Alan Compo
2019, acrylic
Artist statement
“Most days I feel lost in this transition of self-correction. Feelings that pour out puddles of thick paint on canvas touching dry anxious days. Thoughts found swooshing graphite across paper, pushing light into dark, sounds of shading stumps and fingers sliding back and forth, forth and back….Meditation, prayers...escape. Dreams and 13-year-old memories mixing with the taste of tingy eraser tops of bristles of brushes rinsed almost clean in tinted cloudy water. Looking for forgiveness...finding art...sometimes. Lost in the smells of old paint kept moist on a lid with a wet paper towel, of new paper, of pencil shavings...wondering what ifs, if onlys, and I can’t wait! With an emotion that occasionally showed its face on paper or canvas where others may see my feelings of self-correction while lost in transition…” – Alan Compo
Alan Compo returned home in 2018 and has been continuing his art practice full time. While incarcerated, he gained deeper connection to his Native identity, and his paintings are often tributes to the Anishinaabe people and elements of Native culture.
Reflection Prompts:
How does Compo use geometric stylistic choices to tell a story about the interconnectedness of its figures?
Does Compo’s painting make you think of an image that represents your heritage? What similarities exist between that image and Compo’s?
Reporting Policy