THE OCEAN

In this series of paintings I return to the figure after several years of focusing on landscapes, revisiting a familiar terrain: the beaches at Prouts Neck, Maine where I have swum all my life.  For an ocean swimmer, the water is an irresistible invitation to immerse oneself in a different dimension – a promise of a sensorial, deeply physical transformation.

For a painter the ocean defines space in interesting ways – its surface separates what is above – the air we breathe, the ground we walk on – and what is below which is mysterious and unknowable.  In some of the paintings I place the figure at the water’s edge –between these two worlds – in others I show them fully submerged.

This experience of leaving solid ground and entering water, with anticipation and maybe some trepidation, is probably universal.  Yet, I’ve rooted these figures in a distinct environment, creating a dialogue between shared human moments and a specific time and place.  As they are paintings, they naturally translate the actual experience into something else: a sensory memory perhaps, or feeling of being in one place and thinking of another.

This visceral connection is enhanced by the placement of the figures, who often look away from the viewer.  I draw on the German concept of the Rückenfigur, or “back figure,” where the subject becomes a surrogate, inviting the viewer to experience the moment vicariously.  Ultimately, while there are people in each painting, the true subject is the ocean itself, and our profound relationship to it.  The paintings trigger a sense of recognition and an opportunity to experience the familiar in a new way.

--Alexandra McGovern