John Finneran

LC: A lot of these colors are sunrise and sunset colors. The body becomes the landscape or the body and the landscape are interchangeable. I feel so much generosity in the paintings, can you speak a bit about that?

JF: A long time ago I made a painting that I saw completed at a gallery. I recognized that the energy in it was competitive and angry. I had made something, that wasn’t a generous thing. I think only I saw this but I felt sad about it. I felt like I didn’t want that to be what I put into the world. That was the start of a long process of questioning every decision I put into the painting. I know that’s vague but I was searching for that angry feeling, trying to root it out. I felt like if anger was getting in there, then I have to examine all of it, everything that was in there, I have to go back to zero. As I made decisions in the painting, I had to make sure they are decisions I feel good about. I want to make sure the feeling I want to give is in the painting I’m making.

John Finneran (b. 1979) lives and works in Los Angeles. He received an MFA from Bard College in 2008. He has had solo shows at 47 Canal, New York; Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles; Arcade, London; and Rivington Arms, New York. His work has been exhibited at Ballroom Marfa, Texas; White Cube, London; MoMA PS1, New York; and ICA, Philadelphia. This is Finneran’s second exhibition with 47 Canal, New York.