Nina Ozbey: Artist Statement

My work is about spontaneity, about opening myself up. In my ongoing series of non-objective paintings I let go of subject matter to explore composition, color and line - all the elements of design. They are also elements of the natural senses. Transfixed in my studio, it becomes all about the process of putting paint onto canvas or paper, and the choices that unfold as each work builds and evolves.

Working off the first brushstroke, for often that dictates the rest of the work, I take pleasure in making marks, observing - almost as a voyeur -  how each stroke relates to and energizes the next. The paintings are records of my brushes' actions, webs of gestures that embrace something new and unseen.

In the end I seek in each of my works something fresh and different that I've never encountered before. The results are never about communicating something specific or narrative, but issue from a place without rules. Freed from realism, these paintings bring with them a raw sense of movement and joy for me and I hope for others as well.