Artist of the Month June 2009

Roy Secord

New York, NY

Roy Secord is an abstractionist whose primary mediums are large-scale, contemporary geometric abstractions on canvas (traditional easel painting), innovative hard-edged collages/assemblages, and biomorphic-based, carved cast-stone sculptures. He is also an arts educator, an instructor, and a master artist/ facilitator for public works projects. For more than 20 years, he has resided in & maintained a working studio in the Harlem/Upper Manhattan areas of New York City.

How and when did you start creating art?

My career as a white collar professional was predetermined by my father. I was an undergrad student majoring in biology, with a minor in chemistry, at the University of Texas. I was taking a maximum of 21 credit hours per semester and under tremendous pressure to succeed in a predetermined path I was not even happy in. I had a very good friend, an incredibly talented artist majoring in painting, who coerced me to take a couple of fine art classes as elective courses to lighten my academic load. It was a real tour-de-force on her part to convince me to take an “unnecessary” and “menial” elective such as art. How funny and ironic! My first art class, Basic Design & Composition 101, changed my life forever. The professor began the course by showing documentaries of 2 contemporary artists, Claes Oldenburg and Roy Lichtenstein. I felt I had discovered a magical and familiar new world. It was a revelation to me that modern art allowed for such distinct, developed, varied, and intelligent self expression. The discipline of Art was beautiful! I began exploring and creating art thereafter. Art was a natural and necessary proclivity for me. The following semester I changed my academic plan to the arts (to the shock and surprise of both family and friends!) and my journey had begun.

What media and genres do you work in?

I never really felt married to a particular medium. I did a working apprenticeship with a Mexican muralist and sculptor (Mago Gandara Orona) when I finished my academic training at the university. She made me realize that all materials are potential art “mediums” and it is in many ways better to diversify your creation process and medium choice (to be open and receptive creatively). Picasso worked this way. It is in the hands of an artist that the transformation to art manifests. In my career as an artist, I have created and taught collage, assemblage, sculpture, and painting from a wealth of many traditional and nontraditional art materials. It’s just a matter of “what works” for that given expression. These days, I have mostly settled into traditional easel painting. I create large geometric abstractions on stretched canvas in acrylic paints. This is a rich marriage between contemporary expression and the feel of classical tradition which I am in love with. I also do traditional reductive carving in cast stone as a pure, meditative practice and break from my painting discipline and abstractional genre. My carvings are also abstract, though more biomorphic. They are aligned with the Concrete Movement and I consider Jean Hans Arp as being my sculptural mentor.

Who or what are your influences?

My stylistic approach towards painting is inherently ultra-modern, hard-edged, colorist, and Concrete owing something to primitive art & decoration, esoteric symbolism & device, and technology-advanced structure & system. All three influences share common geometric expression, common truth and common mystery. There is a common thread of communicative expression that runs throughout. In truth, they only differ in terms of dialect. Though I do have an individualized statement for each and every work, my work is much about those shared commonalities. In contemporary terms, I owe much to my modern master mentors: Jack Tworkov, Ilya Bolotowsky, Leon Polk Smith, Charmion Von Weigand, The California Abstract Classicists, Elsworth Kelly, Frank Stella, Larry Poons, Robert Mangold, Bridget Riley, and Gary Lang. I follow a high modern tradition of aestheticians producing works of beauty, structure, objectified presence, and grandeur. Geometric Abstraction in this vein is noble high art.

"The African Sun" - Like many artists, I find inspiration through poetry and music. I was always personally moved by the painter Joan Mitchell speaking how much she was emotionally moved to paint by the poetry works of Frank O’Hara. The inspiration for my work “The African Sun” came from a poem entitled “Sweet Africa” by the African Artist Bessou Gnaly. Here are some excerpts: "Oh, Sweet Africa, the sound of music and laughter is all around, the soft smile of kind people everywhere." "Sunshine, heat and sweat. . Oh, Sweet Africa, people are moving by the feeling of music. Oh, Sweet Africa, keep those shadows away and the African Sun will continue to shine and smile for everyone. Oh, Sweet Africa, keep moving by the sun heat and sweet sounds of music and the togetherness of everyone and the sweet African smile continues. You will be free... if you really want to be free."

Describe your creative process?

Generally speaking, I begin my creative process by looking at a lot of different artwork, sit that aside, clear my mind, then mentally conceptualize a general theme, design, and color scheme. I then follow up by using drawing and collage techniques to further develop a study to work off of and do a series of paint color studies to work from. I transfer my design to canvas and begin the actual art making process by remaining FLUID in conception and design. I let the work evolve and I remain very open to change. Many times, it is a developing, subliminal art making process, much like the autonomous work methodology of the Abstract Expressionists. It may be three quarters of the way through the work creation process before I can fully define that which I am expressing and lead the conception to fruition.

What are you working on currently?

I continue to work in a larger and larger format. Scale is such an important component to the success of an artwork. I’ve known artists whose formats were never larger that 5 x7 inches and the work was highly successful. My work sings in a large format. I am currently exploring utilizing multiple canvas components in the creation of my work. I also continue to intensely explore the never-ending possibility of color and color combinations. At present, I am working with corporate art consultants, interior designers, and architects in the design market. Although I consider myself to be a gallery artist, my work absolutely lends itself to design interiors.

What are your near/long term goals as an artist?

I am seriously engaging in entering the public artworks domain. This will allow me to work in larger formats and become an investment in communities at large. I am currently working with disadvantaged youth in collaborative artwork projects as a master artist facilitator and I continue to submit proposals for public works nationally across the board. I also continue to seek out more international fine art representation and venues for my studio work.

Where can people view/purchase your work (gallery, website, etc)?

I have a large web presence but my fantastic web site www.RoySecord.com would be a great place to further discover my work. My contact information page is there in the event of artwork sale queries or questions concerning possible commissions. I currently have multiple representation in the marketplace but they are non exclusionary so you may contact me directly. *** In conjunction with this interview, a solo exhibition entitled "Roy Secord: Contemporary Dialogues in Geometric Abstraction" will be on view at Chashama Harlem Studios Gallery, 461 West 126th Street, New York City throughout the month of June 2009. Further information available under events on the artist's website.

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