Nugent & Company: Artist's Statement

My work refers to Brazilian travels, specifically along the Amazon River
Basin. Naturalistic forms resembling beehives, vertebrae, cocoons,
anthills, plant forms and insects are spread across the surface of the
work. My palette is often subdued beneath a layer of darkness,
suggesting mystery. The work transcribes a memory of objects and
impressions of what was seen and felt.

Brazil and the Amazon River Basin have been the subject and inspiration
for my work for more than twenty-two years. Visiting the region now
three to four times a year I find that the landscape has many moods.
The Amazon River is an apt metaphor for the act of churning up
remembered objects and sights, gathered while traveling along its rough
course. In its flow, the river boils an object to the surface only to
swallow it up again to resurface later. These impressions are a memory
of the river bound on both sides by a high, dark jungle; foreboding
and beautiful. If it takes you in, it takes you in whole.

These paintings deal with the contrast and conflict between the
beauty of the Amazon and its continued destruction. Modern man
sees the rainforest as a tremendous resource. And at the same
time we are in the process of depleting it. Although the
indigenous groups have lived harmoniously in that environment for
generations, we cannot find the balance needed to protect this
resource for the future.

Bob Nugent
2007