MEDIUM
A NEWSLETTER ABOUT ARTISTS AND THEIR processes No. 4 Daniel Granitto
Artist interviewed: Daniel Granitto “Strange Smoke”, 2016
What is your most important artist tool? As a painter, of course paints, brushes, and supports are rather necessary, but I think that the absolute most important tool for me is light. I paint primarily at night and there is perhaps nothing so infuriating as working long hours on a piece only to bring it into full daylight and discover that it looks absolutely nothing like it had looked at night in the dimly lit studio.
why do you use your medium? Painting, I really believe has the power to do something magical. It can sort of collapse time. An inspiring painter, Israel Hershbreg, talks about paintings as “time capsules”. The basic idea being because paintings are made through the manual process of a hand responding to a brain’s impulses and decisions over time (often long periods of time) there is a sense of history in a painting. It offers itself to you fully in a moment, and yet if you come back to view a painting over and over again it continues to reveal itself more and more fully. I am innately drawn to the process of painting. I love the way the brush rubs, or glides, or scrubs the weave on the canvas. I love the way the paint layers like geological layers in the earth. I love the rare moments when the dumb material of pigment and binder transcends itself and becomes something entirely different.
Editors note: Daniel Granitto defines light as his most important artist tool. I find this very interesting, not many people would view light as the most important. I use light in my screen printing and photo etching processes. Light has a vital role in this; without it, no image would appear. The idea of light that Granitto addresses, has the same principle as screen printing and photo etching. Light can define how an art piece will be perceived in the end.