Curtis Verdun, Art by Abstraction

Artist Biography

Curtis Verdun, the eldest of the 3 Artist Brothers, is an abstract and portrait artist working out of his Houma studio, deep in the bayou country of Southeast Louisiana. This area's rich culture and unique landscape has inspired the artist's work over the last 4 decades.

One of the fondest memories during the artist's early life, Verdun recalls Christmas of '74. He was 12 years old then and one of the gifts his astute parents had given him was a Grumbacher oil painting starter set. That got him started! Up to that point he could only draw with school pencils and whatever paper he could find. This gift gave him more confidence and strengthened his desire to paint and he soon developed the ability to paint likenesses of people and at 13 he completed his first PAID oil portrait commission. Oil portraits became his mainstay for many years. Commission clients since then have included universities, churches and other businesses as well as individual collectors of Fine Art.

Curtis is pretty much a self-taught artist, except for a portrait workshop with Daniel Greene and a seminar with John Howard Sanden in the eighties. He feels that throughout his career he has learned much of what he knows from reading about the great masters, both in technique, theory and aesthetics. (Some of his favorite painters are among the Abstract Expressionists.) To accelerate his learning, he has also copied their works, experimented with their various painting techniques and methods and prepared painting mediums according to their recipes. He now even grinds some of his oil paints himself and has also built and stretched many of his own canvases.

Commissioning portraits has done a lot for Curtis, in honing in his drafting and modeling skills. "Many will say that figure studies are the best subjects an artist can learn from. Maybe so, but when placed before an easel to create a portrait, an artist is faced with a unique challenge. Not only does he have to render form as he would for any other subject, now he does not have the unrestricted "artistic license" to reconstruct an image in any way he likes. Every portion of that form needs to be modeled within a rather narrow latitude in order to gain a convincing likeness. It's much less forgiving than figure studies."

This same requirement for precise execution also applies to the seemingless random strokes of many abstract paintings. You would think it didn't matter as much, but every nuance of each passage is vital to the feel, depth and character of the completed image. So, for this reason, Curtis realizes that much of his artistic talents can be attributed to the intensive training he has received while painting numerous portraits over the years.

Curtis and his work is well-respected in his community and he has done several lectures and workshops in the Lafourche and Terrebonne area.

In 2002, Curtis began broadening his subject matter and genre and is now producing more abstract paintings and non-figurative works in addition to traditional portraits and landscapes. He has found himself at home in this new genre and was surprised to find substantial demand for his new abstract art, both locally and abroad.

Through abstract and non-figurative painting, Curtis feels he has a newfound opportunity for greater creativity and artistic expression. The canvas is open to his free and untethered imagination.

Curtis was born a Native American Indian of the Lafourche Band of Biloxi-Chitimachas. He feels that this heritage has had a strong influence on his work and his outlook on life. The South Louisiana area where he lives has such wonderfully diverse people, the rich Cajun culture, including French and Cajun cuisine, gumbo and Mardi Gras, and breathtaking landscapes of cypress and palmettos- all very influential to his work as a Louisiana artist.

Artist Statement

Without the power of artistic expression, we would just do and say things as plain as computers or "androids". Nothing colorful would ever be expressed. Without art there would be no jokes, no music. Dancing would make no sense and everything we do and everything we have would be for utility only. BUT, the ability to create, perform, comprehend and appreciate art - that makes everything different! Art heightens our life experience. It offers a spiritual insight to all that we are. With the gift of artistic and creative abilities, ideas and emotions can really be expressed. We can really communicate - not merely words and facts - but thoughts, ideas and feelings. In fact, as I like to say, art is the only means by which one soul can truly touch another.

Art awakens the soul!

"Drama of tone" is what I endeavor in my work, whether abstracts, landscapes or figurative. I feel that tone is the most basic component of an image and that everything else, including color, is dependent on it. With well-executed passages, I aim to move and awaken the viewer by my images. It's not enough that the spectator simply sees my work, they should feel it. If they feel nothing, I have failed.

Over the past several years, I have found myself using the painting knife more and more for my abstract paintings. Currently, for many of my more recent works, I use only painting knives and rarely a brush. This method provides the look I want to achieve in my abstract paintings. The painting knife provides the crisp texture found in many areas of my work and yet it also allows for surprisingly smooth passages when desired. It is this "rhythm of texture" that has become my key signature.

I long to be able to reproduce the "full grandeur" of the images that my imagination can conjure up. That's what draws me to more abstract and also non-figurative art. &qout;It is not some "alternative to realism" as some might consider - as though it was a choice based on taste. It is rather a matter of what the artist wants to say and how he can say it best. The abstract genre affords the artist a greater freedom to more fully present his ideas without being tethered to what he visually sees."

It is only by the complete detachment from visible reality that an artist can directly communicate to others the very essence of the message to be conveyed. It is a pure and unobstructed path from soul to soul. - Curtis Verdun