My initial aesthetic interest in a location is always intuitive, a strong feeling conveyed visually through the subject. Attempting to move from an intuitive response to a concrete object that contains and conveys these sensed ideas is a challenging task.

A location may present many potential pictorial ideas and it is the job of the artist to discern which qualities he or she wishes to select and to emphasize, based on his or her particular perception of the subject. I have painted many landscape paintings that do not convey what I initially perceived or felt in the location because at the time I had a limited awareness of my objectives and of the process involved in achieving them. This is why preliminary studies in a sketchbook are so invaluable. They allow me to process my visual experiences on a formal level: analyzing shapes, space relationships, lines, colors and textures in order to better understand their function relative to visual expression.

Through this process I have discovered that I have a particular interest in exploring and developing the element of space and in revealing the particular shape structures of the observed subject or environment. In this sense I am a formalist, because I place great value on the pure expressive quality of the form itself.

The ideas I wish to express, however, are not only connected to feelings evoked by the formal aspects of the scene, but also to certain associations and ideas related to the locations themselves. I find I am continually drawn to settings that contain both natural and man-made forms. In urban environments I tend to gravitate toward views that convey a sense of open space, solitude or some contrasting element of natural beauty. Conversely, in natural settings I am drawn to pristine locations that contain traces of man‚s presence in the scene. This can suggest a sense of time or history and also presents unexpected pictorial harmonies and discords in the environment for the artist to explore. Likewise, I see my work as a document of a particular time and location that is in a continual process of change, decay, or renewal. Many of the environments that I have depicted in the past are now totally transformed, often to the extent that they are no longer visually compelling to me. In this way I am able to secure an aesthetic idea that is fleeting.

Finally, I find that I am attracted to stark, austere landscapes and ordinary locations, partly because they are often remote, quiet, and meditative and also because I find it rewarding to reveal the intricacy, inimitability, and sense of beauty present in places that are often overlooked.

born:1971, Upland CA

education:

California State University, Long Beach, MFA 2002
Corban University, Salem Or, 1995, B.S, Ministry

selected awards/honors

Marylin Werby Scholarship, California State University, Long Beach, 2002

selected publications

Lynne Moss, Responding to Subjects of Uncommon Beauty, American Artist Magazine, New York, New York, August 2004
Lynne Moss, Five Artists, Five Approaches, Landscape Highlights, American Artist Magazine, New York, New York, 2005

selected solo or two-person exhibits

College of the Sequoias Art Gallery: Urban Sights/Sites, Visalia CA 2010
Industrial Landscapes of the Port of Long Beach: Werby Gallery, Long Beach CA, 2003

selected group shows

Salton Sea Museum: Valley of the Ancient Lake, North Shore, CA 2011
Musuem of California Art: The California Art Club's 100th Annual Gold Medal Exhibition, Pasadena, CA 2011
Wright State University, Drawing from Perception IV, Dayton, OH, 2009
Coconino Community College, Landscape at Risk, Contemporary Views of the West, Flagstaff, AZ 2008