Sharon Cannon
Artist Statement
“Lend your ears to music, open your eyes to painting, and... stop thinking! Just ask yourself whether the work has enabled you to ‘walk about’ into a hitherto unknown world. If the answer is yes, what more do you want?” ~Wassily Kandinsky
Beginning with color, I embark upon a dialog with the painted surface through a vocabulary of mark making – pushing and pulling the surface, painting out, painting in, until that surface is able to “speak” for itself. The color becomes harmonized, lifting and dropping tones until the point at which the painting is as important as the act of creating. Both are a performance.
As a painter, I am challenging the structured nature of my previous career in business and furniture design, where work was meticulously planned, subjected to committee revisions, and designed for mass production. Today, my art celebrates spontaneity and intuition, a process that can span weeks or even months for each piece. Surrounded by jazz musicians and photographers inspires experimentation and improvisation. I play with the oil paint using a variety of tools from brushes to palette knives and lately I have moved into using old T-shirts and socks. I often paint over old paintings. I change my mind many times throughout the process. A painting is not finished until it is out of my hands.
About
Sharon Cannon currently lives and works in Los Angeles. She was born into a farming family in South Dakota and spent the first 8 years of her education in a single room schoolhouse. After earning an Executive Master’s Degree in Business Administration from USC, she entered the world of high-end design furniture becoming Vice President of Unique Projects. Sharon collaborated with creative designers, building furniture for cruise ships, parks, restaurants, public buildings, professional offices, and individual clients. She has always had a passion for painting, and in particular abstract art. She has studied with Susan Manders and Kimberly Brooks in Los Angeles as well as mentors in Scotland and Cornwall.