Mark Gualtieri

Mark Gualtieri’s current series of abstract paintings, “Trolling the Benthos” is an expedition into the depth of Gualtieri’s psyche. The “benthos” are the tiny creatures that inhabit the stream beds of central Pennsylvania, the ocean floor, or any body of water in the world. Gualtieri sees these crustaceans as a metaphor for what lies at the center of creation. They exist below the surface of the water, but are as pertinent to the experience of existence on this planet as the trees one can walk right up to and touch. Trees are easy to get to, but getting to the benthos is a little tricky. It takes more effort.

Abstraction has been Gualtieri’s primary mode of expression for over ten years and it is his belief that through these means he can plumb through the depth of his experience more faithfully. Working with various wet and dry mediums such as; watercolor, oil, acrylic polymer emulsion, pastels, crayons, and pencils, Gualtieri's endeavors cover a wide range of styles and theories. Gualtieri's work is often inspired by the artists of post WWII American generaltion: deKooning, Motherwell, and Gorky.

The forms and titles of his paintings are loose, but this does not imply that he is shirking his responsibility to the completion of the painting. It’s too arrogant! Gualtieri believes that the viewer must participate. The goal of abstraction in Gualtieri's mind is to take up the journy and not arrive at a completed painting. Where in one painting the process is frozen; in another it begins, and so on. Gualtieri sees no end in sight, only endless possibilities. Often working in a dyptych format, Gualtieri finds something happening off the edges of one canvas that he must engage. As one canvas bridges another, a dialogue begins until Gualtieri feels each canvas is dynamic enough.