RIck J. Watters

ABOUT THE WORK

Each collection begins with one or more hand-drawn designs, each a structural unit that repeats across a set of individual canvas panels. The panels are then photographed and composed digitally, creating bold and colorful arrangements from the same physical elements.

The work is engineered spontaneity: a system rigorous enough to hold together and loose enough to surprise. Color does the expressive work, saturated and varied across each panel to create compositions that feel simultaneously ordered and chaotic. Up close, uneven edges, visible brushwork, the texture of paint on canvas make the handwork clear. From a distance, it resolves into something that looks almost inevitable.

The underlying logic mirrors how life actually feels. What appears simple generates complexity, and the two sit together more comfortably than we usually appreciate. Influences range from the modular sculpture of Donald Judd, to the colorful geometric abstraction of Odili Donald Odita, to random color arrangements found in nature.