Dana Saulnier

"Still Night Falling  77" x 88"

"Night One"  63" x 84"

"Night Two"  56" x 70.25" 

"Headdress"  70" x 56"

"Hut"  78" x 91"

Dana Saulnier is an Ohio based artist who teaches at Miami University. His visceral expressionistic paintings convey an intense physicality while remaining primarily abstract. I say primarily because representation makes occasional cameo appearances. Those hints of representation along with a strong suggestion of dramatic lighting serve to make the phyicality of the work more present, more real. The forms that are created can seem incredibly solid, as if they would weigh heavily in one's hand, even as they seem to be disintegrating, merging with other forms, or turning inside out. I'm not particularly practiced at talking about abstract art, or even looking at it. I love narrative. Always have. But then, when you really look at these, narrative seems very much a part of them. What is narrative but transformation, how one thing changes into another, and the inherent tension of that process? So what I see here is a powerful abstract depiction of narrative tension. I see a dark carnal conflict teetering on the brink of either dissolution or resolution. Which will it be? What I see in the work is the raw abstract elements of story telling. The artist talks about his own work in ways that I can barely wrap my head around, so I'm sticking to my own thesis for now. But however you choose to describe them, there's no denying the raw visual energy of these paintings. You can see more at www.danasaulnier.com