"Abstract" refers to a rich category of painting in which the artist is concerned with intrinsic form and consciously makes little or no attempt at pictorial representation or narrative content. It also describes consideration of particular aspects of a subject without associating them with any instance or whole.

Hal Fielding is an in-demand abstractionist painter with a well-defined philosophy developed over previous careers in mathematics and computer science, and an intense program of art study in private and workshop settings. His training, which includes on-site drawing and study of art in Rome, Florence, Venice, Paris, and the American Southwest, encompasses a wide swath of European art from ancient Roman through

"Solitude Within," acrlic on canvas, 48"X64"

contemporary abstract. This artist's love of learning and penchant for perpetual self-development are apparent in the vivacity with which he imbues his work. A hefty component of intellectual interest is at the foundation of abstractionism's appeal to Fielding, and it comes through in his paintings, contributing greatly to their broad appeal.

Fielding began showing his work with the Santa Fe Artists' League in 1983, and currently shows at Expressions in Fine Art on Canyon Road. He has enjoyed the kind of success that has made his work the subject of annual one-person shows each of the past 6 years. By limiting himself to non-objective criteria in 80 percent of his paintings, he intends his work to communicate in nonverbal, emotional, and spiritual realms.

Fielding has practiced daily meditation for 25 years. It is one means for him to access what creative persons in many fields often call the void. Fielding began as a representational painter but became ever more drawn to abstraction because it is so fundamental to all painting. Pure abstraction gives both the artist and the viewer the widest latitude for interpretation, in its celebration of conceptual reality without overt physical description.

Believing that all the elements of good representational art should be present in abstract painting, Fielding gives ample attention to principles of lighting and color design, composition, contrast, dominance and subordination, rhythm, balance, and so forth. Making his challenge even greater, he rotates the canvas on his easel as he works, thus refraining from dictating which side is up and forcing himself to devise compositions that work with any edge in any position. He signs only the back of the canvas in order to pass this freedom of orientation on to the viewer as an integral part of the abstract experience.

"My work is a celebration of a love affair with the Real," says Fielding. With three or four works in progress at a time, Fielding finds inspiration in the act of painting and gladly shares what he calls the secret to his success: "To paint every day."
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