South
Spotlight Artist
Curtis Ames
South
Artist Statement
My creative and scholarly research has evolved out of an ongoing interest in effort, achievement, and the ethics of irresolvability. Working across disciplines, I focus on the ways in which material and procedural conditions define form and content. Specific gestures have a certain kind of power, and within my work there is a casual and undemanding level of agency, suggestive of an inherent struggle against the pressures of success and a knowing resignation that comes with always falling short. Uncomplicated and seemingly flippant maneuvers impart affect to otherwise static materials, allowing the understated artifacts of my process to serve as earnest observations and subtle critiques of artistic and social systems.
Representative of my contentious relationship with the medium, Preserved Paint is an ongoing body of work that addresses the complicated history of painting through passive-aggressive strategies of refutation and deferral. Entering the plastic arena, but not fully engaging, tubes of paint are emptied directly onto the canvas without formal consideration. The work is then wrapped and bound, obscuring the underlying paint and preserving its potentialities.
Discover more artists from the South
THE MAGAZINE
Explore our magazine to discover exceptional artists

Call for Artists
Submit your work for consideration
New American Paintings is a juried exhibition-in-print and digital, presenting the work of 40 emerging artists in each issue.
Your gateway to new art
Discover tomorrow's art stars, today

PRINT + EARLY ACCESS DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION
$179/YEAR
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION
$99/YEAR OR $10/MONTH
Each issue of New American Paintings features forty artists selected through our juried competitions—presented in a beautifully curated, full-color publication. Subscribers receive six issues per year, plus exclusive online access to current and past editions. Are you a collector? Consider our premium subscription and receive our museum-quality printed publication + access to each new digital issue two weeks before its general release.







