I find the process from conception to manifestation difficult to explain. It's not unlike automatic writing, except that it is the spontaneous image I seek as a consequence of a gesture... The dialogue with this discovered image is what I find most challenging; keeping the painting in a state dictated more by the subconscious than by a rational, disciplined procedure.

I constantly combat an inherent drive to over-define - to make the image too obvious, which would ultimately lead to contrivance and failure. The analogy would be of the writer whose overuse of his vocabulary tends to hamper his vision. If I feel the work is successful, an autobiographical narrative has been attained...

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- Matthew Carone