Artist Statements
Scott McNeill is a unique artist. On three-foot by five-foot panels of wood-some larger, some smaller--he combines the wood-carving skills developed in Honduras with a high intelligence that has allowed him to express profound ideas in carved wood relief sculptures that he then paints in intense acrylic colors. He paints the individual carved forms themselves, whether interiors with people and furnishings, or animals, fish and other creatures of the sea, in order to heighten their character, identity and intensity. But, he also paints other, larger, related images on top of the painted carvings to create another level of reality, an overlay that reinforces or amplifies the visual and emotional meaning and expressiveness of the underlying carving.
Scott McNeill is very talented in his handling of these layers of images, carefully placing the paint so that it both reveals the carved structure of objects, and allows the painted overlay of secondary images to shift and develop across the irregular carved surface. Thus, there is both the carving and the painting on the carving, and then a larger pictorial and expressive image painted on top of both. The result is the creation of the multiple layers of meaning and symbolic expressiveness that reside in reality and in Scott McNeill's mature philosophy, incorporating the relativity of space and time. From his point of view, and that of most thoughtful people, reality is not just one thing, but composed of a series of levels of meaning and interpretation.
I can't think of another contemporary or historic artwork that does this the way that Scott McNeill does it. His style is unique in the history of art. I realize this is a large statement, but I can't think of another artist or art form that contradicts it.
It is true that Cubism has been interpreted as the creation of multi-faceted views of objects to suggest the passage of time. Cubism, though entirely different in style from Scott McNeill's achievement, is the closest art movement or style that I can think of that in any way suggests what he is achieving in terms of a multiplicity of overlapping images and ideas. But Scott McNeill's work is different, more complex in its way than Cubism, because he is combining more recognizable images with a challenging abstract framework.
It can be said that Scott McNeill's work is Baroque in character in terms of the movement of design, color and emotion associated with that past period of art. The dramatic movement and energy in his work ties directly to this tradition of art, while being stylistically unique and contemporary.
I suppose I should say that in addition to being an artist and writer on art for forty or more years, I also taught art and art history at the college and university level for more than twenty years, so I have had to study and think about these ideas in order to present them to students.
Scott McNeill's work is mature and truly unique.
Scott McNeill has been working at a mature level of artistry, in terms of intellectual, technical, and creative aspects, for as long as I've known him…the last ten years. He has a maturity of mind and philosophy of art and life far beyond the usual. He is, and has been for years, well aware of what he is achieving and wants to achieve in his art. He expresses profound, even difficult concepts, very clearly both in his art and verbally and in writing In doing so, he is able to achieve something quite unusual in art…a vibrant, vital, emotionally expressive art based on profound intellectual, symbolic theory. Usually, an artist achieves one or the other positions—emotional expressiveness or theoretical intellectuality--rarely both with equal artistic impact and validity. Scott McNeill has done this for the extended period of the ten years' time I have known him and his work, and continues to do so today.
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Don Gray writes about Scott McNeill
Imagine that you are standing in front of a vibrant artwork so distant from anything you have ever seen before that you……. What will be your reaction when you see, not how you are used to seeing, or when you think, not how you are used to thinking?
There has never been any art like Scott McNeill's multi-dimensional wood carvings. In theory, McNeill's work is closest to the ideas of cubism or abstract expressionism, where different facets of a subject are interpreted, combined and reconstructed to create a perspective that transcends a solitary point of view. However, McNeill is doing something very different. In his work, a painting is superimposed and applied directly on to the surface of a bas-relief sculpture. The result is an intertwining construction of form and subject matter, where totally separate planes of imagery co-exist within the same space.
Scott McNeill is an accomplished bas-relief wood sculptor, last year he was awarded the National Prize for an outstanding bas-relief from the National Sculpture Society (Dexter Jones Award.)
He began sculpting after serving a term as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras (92-94), when a renowned wood carving master invited him to apprentice bas-relief sculpture. He worked side by side amongst 20 of the country's finest wood carvers for the next 2 1/2 years.
Upon returning to the United States in 1996, McNeill began experimenting with his "multi-dimensional" style.
The artistic process begins with the hand carving of realistic and intricate designs into large wooden panels, usually made of linden wood. His biggest sculptures have taken him as long as 8 months to complete. McNeill's next step is what makes his artwork so unique. He paints a larger image over the carved forms. The larger image plays in counterpoint, like visual music, with the underlying images of the sculpted foundation, creating the "multi-dimensionality" McNeill speaks of. Seeing one of his painted woodcarvings is like peering past a veil of limited perception into a world of multiple realities with multiple possibilities.
McNeill reflects on people's surprise to his work, saying: "The way I see it, there are only two kinds of art. There is the kind that explores the edges of our human understanding, breaking new ground and expanding the limits of how something is expressed, perceived or experienced. And then there's everything else."
Press Release for Solo Show, 2002
Before accepted knowledge was known did it exist somewhere in a language of symbols? Will the way that future generations think about reality be rooted in the abstract ideas of today? …Just as these two questions address one answer from different perspectives, I am striving for the viewer to realize that multi-dimensionality is more accurate than singularity. My dream is that someone, while standing in front of one of my sculptures, will be pushed out of their ego-centered consciousness and expand into a new awareness of themselves and the universe.
Artist Statement, 2000
My glowing relief artwork is made with water-clear casting resin and pure strontium aluminate powder, a new type of long after-glow photo-luminescent material. It works by absorbing light energy quickly but slowly releasing it (14 to 20 hours.) The different colors have different 'glowing' characteristics, which once combined into one of these multi-colored sculptures, displays a continuously changing, 24 hour experience.
These photo-luminescent sculptures will literally glow all night long. And so, bright colored artwork in the daytime transforms into a nightlong luminous show. The strontium aluminate in the work is designed to absorb light energy quickly but then emit it slowly. So from just the ambient daylight through a window, the material will have absorbed enough light to glow until the next morning. However, strontium aluminate can absorb a great deal of light, and be highly charged (5 min of daylight or 20 min from a blacklight/ fluorescent equals a full charge) and will then glow in the full spectrum of colors, with a remarkable intensity.
I am having a lot of fun experimenting with, and developing these photo-luminescent wall sculptures. As a creative artist, I am very satisfied and get huge "AH HAH!"/ goose bump dividends from journeying around new artistic territory and working with this cutting-edge material.
Artist Statement- The Glow Series
Artist Statement- Multiple Dimensions
“What is our real reality? Do you think you know? Can a single point of view, from an individual interpretation, come close to understanding TRUTH? Transcending singularity and one-pointed perception seems of the utmost importance to me...”
“...Linear Perception is so limited in it’s ability to grasp ‘higher’ truths. What I’m doing with my multiple dimensional painted sculpture is developing a new visual language to reach beyond the boundaries of time, space and solitary perspective.”
