Scott Nelson Foster
Colonie, NY
Assistant Professor of Studio Art

Absence and loss, not presence, shapes my definition of beauty. An aspect of this conception of beauty is memory, the anticipation of change, and the struggle to fix a moment in the mind. My paintings are reflections of changing ideas about the societal relationships to the land, the American experience, and the American dream. The landscape is an arena in which many different dramas of the American dream are played out. Trailers, houses, and strip-malls evoke shared experiences. This common denominator gives my work a broad resonance that allows even fragmentary visions to evoke complex narratives. My watercolors and oils eschew the particulars—what makes a location unique—and focus on the iconic—what makes disparate subjects universal.