LLOYD TABING
“While I am a reactionary painter, I do begin the process with an idea, theme, or feeling that I develop. I often begin with simple mark making and then let the reactionary process take over. I relish in the feeling of moving paint and reacting to what is happening on the canvas and within myself. I add as much paint as I take away, creating depth, texture, and revealing the layers beneath. I often use chalk to draw into the painting, sometimes leaving chunks of the material embedded in the painting. I welcome those times when I am completely lost in the act of painting. It is those uninhibited times that allow my paintings to become alive. ”
Lloyd Tabing is an abstract painter from the USA now living and working in Sweden. His paintings are a visual representation of the contrast between reality and his interpretation of this difficult word to define. Canceling as much as they reveal, Tabing’s paintings intertwine gestural marks, drawing, texture, and fields of color that lure you in, tempting one to get lost in thought and emotion.
Tabing’s paintings are inspired by a sense of space that he finds in both the natural and built environments. Lloyd says that he seeks to recognize and understand what makes one space more interesting or catches one’s eye while other spaces that are equally beautiful and interesting goes virtually unnoticed. Lloyd uses the physicality of paint, drawing, and color to create his abstract paintings. Typically large in scale, these paintings are a true reflection of Tabing’s personal connection to these places.
A self-proclaimed perfectionist, Tabing says that being self-taught has allowed for his uninhibited and pure style of painting. While Lloyd begins his paintings with an idea or feeling his style of painting is very much reactionary and even aggressive at times, yet the finished piece always has a calming and captivating element that is pleasant thought provoking. He says that he hopes the language of his paintings in some way provides the viewer a personal connection that speaks to them in an personal way.
