Pouke Halpern

  • Tryptic with green Drips (2008) acrylic on canvas with graphite, 15" x 30" Tryptic with green Drips (2008) acrylic on canvas with graphite, 15" x 30"
  • 8 Bottles and a Bowl (2013) acrylic, gauze and graphite on wood 24" x 24" 8 Bottles and a Bowl (2013) acrylic, gauze and graphite on wood 24" x 24"
  • Bottles with Yellow Drip (2013) acrylic and graphite on wood 24" x 24" Bottles with Yellow Drip (2013) acrylic and graphite on wood 24" x 24"
  • Citrons Verts (2012) acrylic and graphite on wood 36" x 36" Citrons Verts (2012) acrylic and graphite on wood 36" x 36"
  • What’s left (2011) acrylic and graphite on board, 16" x 16" What’s left (2011) acrylic and graphite on board, 16" x 16"
  • Les Chardons (2013) acrylic and graphite on wood 24" x 24" Les Chardons (2013) acrylic and graphite on wood 24" x 24"
  • Nesting (2011) acrylic and grapite on wood, 30" x 30" Nesting (2011) acrylic and grapite on wood, 30" x 30"
  • Lemons with Bottles (2013) acrylic and graphite on wood, 16" x 16" Lemons with Bottles (2013) acrylic and graphite on wood, 16" x 16"
  • Grey vesssels (2010) acrylic on canvas, 48" x 48" Grey vesssels (2010) acrylic on canvas, 48" x 48"

Artist Statement

I take a subterranean approach to my art. By that, I mean I walk into the dark without an intellectual flashlight to guide me. What comes out is often contradictory. A soft, somewhat monochromatic palette, a decorative look, but with psychic wounds peering through. Sometimes the wounds are personal, and sometimes they are observational. Aren’t we all wounded by the pain and injustice we see around us? How can we not express that, even in our most personal work? Even when that work turns out to be pretty. What can I say? I like beauty. Why give that up just because the world is sometimes not beautiful?