TEXTURE

Clark Abt was introduced to the idea of deliberate addition of texture to paintings by his teacher at MIT, György Kepes, who would proclaim in his rich Hungarian accented English, "the increeeeedible richness of texture!" afforded by his addition of sand to wet paint.

 

"In Cambridge, doing my lunch hour Pour and Tilt canvasses on the grassy courtyard, occasional insects would wander over the wet paint and succumb in place, adding naturalistic texture. Thus, the enabling conditions of heat, color, mixed media, and limited time facilitated my exploration of this brushless technique of Pour and Tilt expressionism. My previous style of painting inspired by natural colors and trees was pointillism with fine brushes, taking many hours of weekend afternoons, was no longer possible for me, working sixty-hour weeks and running a growing company. I was also delighted to discover the joys of action-expressionist painting, as practiced most successfully by Jackson Pollock and in more limited form by my friend Barry Clark and then me."