Impressionism used visible brushwork and changing light. Cubism fractured conventional perspective. Abstract Expressionism made gesture and the physical act of painting central to the work. Reflectionism introduces its own visual language through sculpted, three-dimensional oil on canvas. The medium extends outward from the canvas so that light, perspective, and the movement of the viewer continually alter the experience of the work.
The Impressionists explored immediate visual experience and light. The Surrealists explored dreams and the unconscious. The Abstract Expressionists embraced abstraction and the creative act. Reflectionist artists are united by the Reflectionist Principle: the belief that the energy and intention we put into the world are ultimately reflected back to us. Artists create with constructive intention through love, joy, gratitude, and beauty. Through the physical act of painting, that energy and intention become embedded in the artwork itself.
The Impressionists rejected the authority of the French academic Salon. Dada reacted against cultural values associated with the First World War. Pop Art challenged distinctions between fine art and popular culture. Reflectionism responds to a world increasingly mediated by screens, digital reproduction, social media, and artificial intelligence. It insists upon something technology cannot fully reproduce: direct human creation and direct human experience. A Reflectionist painting cannot be fully experienced through a phone, computer, photograph, or reproduced image. The viewer must stand physically before the actual work.
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Human creation.
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Human energy and intention.
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Human experience.