About Dirk Alphin
I am an artist in San Francisco, California, who was born and raised in Southern part of the state of Idaho in an area of the Great Basin. This was high desert landscapes turned into an agricultural hub. Because of this I am both a lover of nature, open spaces and small towns, as well as having a strong urban appreciation and outlook. I spent many years involved in performance art, wearing several hats of that trade: actor, director, producer, designer, playwright. In art I have explored stage design, graphic design, digital art, photography and painting. At present, my medium of choice is mostly with oil paint.
Artist Statement: Epiphanies on Canvas
I paint the overlooked and peripheral fleeting moments which strongly capture my attention. I am also motivated to share that vision with others struggling for beauty and hope in our sometimes isolating world. The resulting painting may offer insight, promote some new or changed thought, trigger an emotional reaction, rekindle some forgotten or closely harbored memory, or simply tease the aesthetic senses.
I often find simple images can evoke complex individual reactions: views peripherally overlooked
can be newly refocused, ongoing story lines may be suggested, solitude sometimes comes into play, the awe of nature can be soulfully embraced, reflected broken light and shadow are mirrored and at times layered then assembled into a new meaning out of a puzzling cacophony. Geometric shapes are reassembled into unusual, but on closer examination, familiar compositions. All these epiphanies mosaic into an artistic kaleidoscope, revealing ‘mystery’ and occasionally shedding a subtle catharsis or “ah ha” moment in its wake.
When I paint, the underlying impulse is always spurred by some epiphany, which I am impelled to capture on canvas or panels, which are presented as a moment frozen in time. It does not always have to be understood to be experienced or even beneficial to the viewer. Hopefully my epiphanies come to the viewer in beauty; ideally it encourages some semblance of hope.