Drone: Abstract Landscapes By Bob Stokes

The good people at Grindcore House invited me hang some paintings. You should come and check it out! "The concept behind this body of work is to be the visual counterpart to listening to Drone music. Typical music utilizes verses, choruses and subject matter to express ideas and emotions to the listener. Where as in Drone music these structures are stripped away and all that is left is the lush tonality and stark emptiness to convey it’s message. Much like the music, paintings tend to have a similar elements with very literal and clear representations of the subject matter. I have striped away subject matter and structure to allow the colors and textures to convey my ideas. I started this series in 2010, many of my pieces have taken years and many revisions to reach a point of completion. While others have taken only a few days for the piece to reveal itself to me. Having painted for most of my life and studying Illustration at University of the Arts this has become as much a self exploration as much a painterly one. Where I was taught to seek out the main theme and depict it as literal as possible, this forces me to cast all that aside and adventure into new interpretations of my vision. Finding new ways to express more by showing less. Utilizing oils and various multimedias to build mountainous layers of texture with a cascading palette of color to express depth and meaning. Trying to breath life into subject matter that otherwise would be left lifeless."