I start a group or "litter" of paintings, 15 or so within the same month. For the next year and a half I raise this litter as best I can, celebrating the familial ties that bind them. I try to mitigate their weaknesses and bring out their strengths. I don’t shelter them from risk, rather I sponsor and encourage any direction they wish to grow. These paintings are not pictures of a thing, they are the thing itself. By orchestrating my materials I use evolution rather than plans. My work tumbles out while it refines, learning from each other and finding their unique identity, The pieces aspire to be conversations rather than statements. The works are groups of siblings.  -ilan Laks