David Senecal is a prolific painter. He is enjoying the process of wet medium after a decades-long career producing digital art; and has impressed with his compositions. This is what he says about the newest body of work:
About the work 2018
One of the functions of art is its intent and ability to move past imitation of our immediately accessible shared reality and to cause the participant-viewer to consider ideas and concepts that are not as easily or readily accessible in the former.
I think of medieval artists with the “memento mori” work, and despite the initial morbidity, the core message isn’t one of hopelessness but rather a reminder to appreciate the moments as they pass.
This is an important aspect and function of art; to remind. To take us out of the context of the daily routine, if only for a minute. Art gives us a moment to pause and consider.
It creates a space and a window or glimpse into another reality where we are allowed and encouraged - maybe even compelled, to step outside of our familiar, daily, and routine experience.
One of the reminders it can provide to us is: We’re here temporarily. Transient.
It’s with this in mind that I’m making works that, at least allegorically, exist outside of a discernible time frame.
The work I’m making contains aspects of elemental timelessness and are made with the knowledge that the work - if cared for, succeeds us and will continue to move into a future we cannot reach.
From a selfish point of view, the work functions as a “monument”. It becomes not only a reminder of our time, both for me as the creator and you as the participant-viewer, but it also becomes a place of meeting for us, across time itself.
When we see it, it is a reminder that we were both here, at this shared location, regardless of our timelines. Here, we intersected, crossed paths, shared a common experience, even if our chronological lifespans never intersected.
The work I’m making is a reminder to notice the infinite moments of beauty around us and to recall our place in time.
It encourages us to consider our place within the context of a seemingly vast entropy - not as a warning of our inevitable annihilation but as a celebration of our perpetual being.
It is therefore, at its core, work containing an encouraging reminder - the celebration of life, which can seem so long to us, despite being comparatively small and brief when viewed in the context of an elemental, expanding universe that to us, is so complex and entropic that it can seem purely chaotic and random.
The work can remind us to consider:
Lifespan - our own, compared with smaller species who live far fewer years. Or for only months. Or only hours.
It’s for this reason that indeterminate scale and a sense of expanse or vastness is significant.
The work can remind us to consider:
What are we, on a species level, compared to the apparent timelessness of the natural forces around us?
The work can remind us to consider:
What does our knowledge and self-awareness cause to occur within us? The Creation of religion. Of art. Of ritual. It drives us to innovate as a way to expand and attempt to escape what ultimately isn’t escapable.
The work that I’m making is a reminder that we’re part of that elemental chaos.
And that there’s beauty and reassurance in being a part of something, that seems overwhelming and chaotic and vast, but that is actually comprised of an infinite number of smaller beautiful moments
David Senecal at the Hilton Columbus Downtown
