Robert Langford is a self-taught artist, and he has always been fascinated by the concepts of color field, action, and abstract expressionism. His earliest impressions of color and texture come from his East Texas upbringing, where he learned to appreciate the beauty of wide-open landscapes. Nature and its evolving stages are a focus –– not as a way to create recognizable images, but as a way to convey emotions. His art reflects the same kind of untamable energy and fluidity of form that he finds in nature. He sees his paintings, like the external world, as perpetually in motion. Each piece has a will of its own. Langford has shown extensively in solo and group exhibits across the country. "I’m inspired by the energetic use of color, relying on the tension between the spontaneous and the considered, the accidental and the consciously executed. I hide very little. My methods are evident as I cover and uncover, delineate and sweep over the shapes on the canvas. The colors respond to one another, and I let their interaction guide me in the composition." Photo by Josh Norris