Henry StinsonPaintings ▪ Drawings ▪ Workshops

I paint both the humorous and serious. A lot of my paintings stem from images in my childhood geared around an accident I had where I was electrocuted and died behind the couch—literally! Plus, my entire family is now dead. Mom, dad, brother and sister. This definitely has had a dramatic impact on how I view life and look for meaning.

I like to use symbols in my work that have mythological or spiritual connotations. I paint because I have to. It's one of my connections to a feeling of higher purpose. To me, my paintings always seem much better when I get out of the way and just let them happen.

My paintings deal with the illusion that IS the physical world. The master illusionist. The grand illusion that we are separate and that physical life is all there is. Life is 98% intangible. Most of who we are as human beings is intangible. We cannot see, taste, touch or even hear a thought. The spirit or soul of being human is intangible. It is most of who we are. When we die, this spirit leaves the body behind. Who we are is gone, and life is viewed as a fleeting dream. Yet we are led to believe that the material world is real and the ethereal world is somehow less than real—or perhaps imagination.

My work deals with the wake-up call we all receive at some point in life—some not until death—that life is mostly nonphysical. That we cannot get anything or keep anything in life. All we take with us is what we give. I want to give hope. Hope that there is something so much more than all we've been taught to grasp for—ie: Money. Beauty. Physical gratification in the form of food and luxury. The typical symbols of status. The seven deadly "sins" funny enough.

I love the physical act of painting because of the challenge I have working to create the vision in my head—to manifest emotions and feelings through the use of color and iconic/symbolic images on the canvas. Life is symbolic. The symbols of life mean something different to each viewer. No two people view a canvas in exactly the same way. My vision is to try to capture my unique view—in all of it's fleeting glory and message—and convey it in as direct and beautiful a manner as possible.

—Henry Stinson