Abstract art helps artist break out of his comfort zone
By MICHAEL BECKER,Chronicle Staff Writer
SEAN SPERRY/CHRONICLE
Artist Chris Terfloth sits between two paintings, “Vesuvius”, left,
and “Nebula”, right, featured in the Zoot Enterprises gallery.
Motivated by a desire to break out of a safe and comfortable rut, mortgage banker Chris Terfloth decided to quit his job three years ago and become an abstract artist.
Everyone says to pursue your passions, he said, relaxing in the upstairs gallery at Zoot Enterprises, where a number of his paintings are on display. For so long, I suppressed that.
Raised in Canada, Terfloth began experimenting with art at age 3, spending hours on pursuits like trying to recreate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in pencil.
It was only natural that he would be drawn to art. His family tree was heavy with artists. His grandmother painted in Germany for 60 years, and both his parents were involved in some kind of art, as well as numerous cousins and distant relations.
Creativity helps me remember not to sweat the small stuff, the 44-year-old artist said. It helps me appreciate what’s around me.
But he has not always been able to express his artistic side. Over the years he has been a teacher, baker, bartender, carpenter and model, among other things. About 15 years ago, he became an illustrator and cartoonist.
I think that was my way of being safe, he said. I could feed my artistic passion without risk of criticism.”
Yet it wasn’t enough for Terfloth. Complacency and conformism began to wear on him.
Kids don’t learn to be conformists early on, he said. As you become older, the car has got to be red, the trees have got to be green. Part of my process has been unlearning these things and becoming nonconformist again.
With abstract art, the artist abandons painting things as they appear in nature, like landscapes or portraits, instead focusing on the interplay of colors, inventive techniques and geometric shapes.
Not everyone is going to like abstract art, he said. But for me, the big thing is that I can paint from emotion. I can use colors to convey my feelings. That, to me, is more important than recreating something that’s already there.?
Judy Hartz, owner of the Whooping Crones Gallery in Missoula, where Terfloth’s paintings were recently exhibited, said she enjoyed his combinations of natural and geometric shapes. Hartz said the paintings displayed at her gallery reminded visitors of paintings from the late 1950s and early 1960s.
“His paintings incorporate a multilayered style that encourages the viewer to find different facets and meanings, she said.
Terfloth said he approaches blank canvases from a color perspective, keeping an inventory of color samples, picked from the things around him, like magazine advertisements or vacation photos.
Terfloth mixes those colors in acrylic paint and drips them onto a canvas that lies on the floor of his Bozeman studio. Then he picks up the canvas and tips it back and forth, letting the paint run over the surface. He uses brushes sparingly, relying instead on tools like flooring trowels and his hands.
The effects vary. Sometimes the paint cracks or dries in daubs, giving paintings an almost three-dimensional quality.
It’s a lot of trial and error.
You never know what’s really going to happen, he said. I’m lucky if I like one out of six of my paintings.
Terfloth said much of his inspiration comes from his spontaneity, something deep inside that keeps him looking for the patterns in nature and ways to make them seem unfamiliar or new.
It allows me to stay fresh, he said. I’ll paint for the next 50 years.
Terfloth’s exhibit of abstracts in acrylic hangs in the Zoot Enterprises Gallery through the end of January. He will have another exhibition at Planet Bronze from December through January.
Michael Becker is at mbecker@dailychronicle.com
