To view additional work by Tedd Stratis you may go to his website at www.teddstratis.com.

I have been a painter for more than thirty years.  During this time, oil on canvas has been my primary medium, and abstraction has been my preferred mode of expression.  While I am continually exploring new directions within these parameters, there are some aspects of my working method and my philosophy that have remained constant. 

My painting process always involves the application of semi-opaque and semi-transparent layers of paint.  This is a labor-intensive approach, but the results are worth the effort.  My paintings are characterized by a luminosity that derives from the play of light amid the diverse layers of pigment in oil.  Another characteristic of my art is the visibility of gesture, with respect to both large and small movements of my brush.  In the large expanses of color, individual brushstrokes can often be discerned.  At the same time, the major forms in my work are reflective of the trajectory of my arm, as it moves broadly across the surface of the canvas.  This link between the physicality of my process and the final appearance of the artwork endows each canvas with a vital energy, which is crucial to the intended content of my art: I expect my paintings to embody the forces of nature.

My interest in nature is reflected in the title of my most recent body of work.  The Demeter Series pays homage to Demeter, the ancient Greek Goddess of the Earth, agriculture and the protector of social order.  In these paintings, all of the elements of art have been placed into the service of a lyrical and organic abstraction.  Overlapping curvilinear forms recall various aspects of the living world, from the most basic cellular structures to more complex natural organisms, such as centipedes and serpents.  These rhythmic forms seem to move across the surface of the canvas, suggesting patterns of growth and/or the locomotion of living creatures.  Additionally, the colors of my palette have been selected to evoke various aspects of the natural world.  Mossy greens and reddish browns suggest the earth, while pinks, lavenders, and blues recall the sky and bodies of water.

In The Demeter Series, as in all of my art, I have tried to bridge the gap between the world of art and the larger world -- without delineating the appearance of things.  Rather, I want to invent and create, inspired by my experience of things.  Thus, my abstractions are not facsimiles of particular visual phenomena; they are linked to reality in a more profound sense.  My paintings are a distillation of nature’s beauty, variety, and vitality.

"The interlocking, overlapping loops that fill the canvas's surface create a succession of visual echoes that register a certain cognitive depth, leading one to imagine the artist's thought process."   D. Dominic Lombardi

                                                                   New York Times

"The recent paintings of Tedd Stratis can be seen as both evolution and revolution. Out of this familiar painter's language, evocative of tangled and mysterious fields of vegetation, has come something new, bold and unexpected. Fully formed islands of color, some opaque, some transparent, now compete with and compliment the established Stratis' stylizations."
                                                                          J. Pindyck Miller

                                                                          Independent Curator

"These paintings evoke a luminosity, the rich color hues create an abstract surface. The paint is applied layer upon layer, both by brush and pencil which contributes to the translucent surface quality of these works."
                                                                     Holly Block, Director
                                                                    The Bronx Museum of the Arts

"In the Stratis' work, the force and chaos inherent in natural structures is realized. Stratis has discovered the vortex in these works and finds, through layers of patterns, an ever-deepening tunnel that draws the viewer to its shaky center.                                                              Brita Brundage.
                                                                        Westchester Weekly

News Release
To read a New York Times review of Tedd Stratis' retrospective, click:
Footlights by Roberta Hershenson. Excerpt: "The paintings, which he describes as ''lyrical abstractions,'' represent two decades of his work and fall into three categories: the Pillar series, the Vortex series and the Passage series. The paintings, mostly oils on canvas, are rich in layered color and rhythmic line..."