About this Artwork

In a process closely akin to relief printmaking, Maine uses textured surfaces to apply fluid acrylic paint indirectly to prepared canvas. He makes these surfaces or “plates,” some of which are quite large, out of common materials such as plywood, extruded foam, plastic and glue.
Integral to the process is the idea that the entire surface is treated with paint at the same moment. For Maine that means compositional phenomena are allowed to occur with minimal interference from his ego.

Maine does not often use the square format, but in this case it is working for him.
It took a long time and a lot of work to develop the plate to the point where it is giving him an interesting result.

Here in particular, most of the physical, manual work involved in producing the painting was invested in fabricating the plate. Now that the hard work is done, he can reuse the plate and experiment with variations on the palette.