Ran Webber
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www.ranwebber.artspan.com
Ran Webber Video
Zoar Valley Statement
My art is Designing and Painting. I generally design and paint geometric images on Brown Kraft Paper (paper-bag paper). I complete my designs on a Mac computer using engineering AutoCad Design Software. The designs are then transferred to the Kraft paper and next painted with Fresco (Tempera) paint: the type of paint Michaelangelo used to paint the Sistine Chapel. After the paint has dried, I roll them into cylinders and put them on a shelf to wait for an outdoor adventure to present itself; then when nature calls, I grab a few and off we go.
For the past few years I’ve kayaked the Cattaraugus Creek many times between Scoby Hill Dam at Springville, New York and the town of Gowanda, New York. Usually in the spring, I get together with a group of people, all with the same last name, but different spellings –Weber and Webber: I belong to the latter group, the sensitive two “b” group!
Much to the bewilderment of the “Redneck” one “b” Webers, I had packed a bunch of paper cylinders and a bunch of self-locking plastic sandwich bags. They began whispering and laughing among themselves when I began to unroll the paper cylinders and submerge them into the water beside the kayak. Soon they “wanted in” on the joke as I crumpled one and began to drain the paint and water from it. I squeezed it tighter into a tight ball and tossed it into mid air and smacked it away with my oar. Soon a serious game of water polo was in full swing. Later, when they demanded a serious answer I said with a laugh “I’m making art, these are my paintings and this is my process; this is called their “Baptism in Zoar” As they all paddled quickly away, I collected all of the water-logged, crumpled paper (polo balls) and put them in plastic sandwich bags for the trip back to my studio.
Back in Buffalo, at my studio, I carefully unfold the mangled paper balls and begin the process of repairing and reinventing the dissolved painted surfaces. This year the process has evolved to where I just soak and crumple the paper and then find the image as it’s suggested by the folds and wrinkles in the paper. Finally the suggested image is painted. It’s all a creative process. It’s all fun.
Ran Webber