Irregularities of my painting surfaces -- stains, blotches, and scratches -- become specters that rise to tell their tale, each as individual as the eyes that behold them. My conversation with these specters of the various materials is like wandering in a labyrinth. Some are clear, offering easy images to share. Others sunken, only whispering their possibilities. With its depth sometimes as thin as a sheet of paper, yet one can wander in it for miles and many hours. The images in my work are from tales told to me during my spectral wanderings in this labyrinth of surface.
Boston-born Gregory Kitterle creates surrealist paintings with long-lost techniques reminiscent of Pompeian frescoes or seventeen-century masters. His compositions are theatrical assemblages of fragments of reality, often with dramatic lighting, with no preconceived narrative content, to engage the viewer in the creative act by allowing autonomy of interpretation. The surface engages the eye with the polished lusciousness of traditional fresco, and drawing guides it through the irregularities of its surface. This contradiction between figurative content and painterly rendition creates a timeless environment, as fragments of our contemporary world emerged in an archaeological find. Kitterle wants the viewer to experience his art almost as a journey, as he states: "The influence for my work stems from my interest in how the eye leads and is lead. The majority of how and what one sees is fragmentary and laced with ambiguity".