“Painting is the artist’s way of expressing something he has no words to define. Just as the poet doesn’t attempt to paint a picture of his message; or just as the music composer doesn’t employ words to make his statement, so too, the painter is limited to his own tools…namely line, shape, tone and color. How his mind and hand come together to use these tools becomes a very private and sometimes mysterious happening, ofttimes baffling to the viewer. Let it be said, the finished work on its own is a completely sublime expression of its maker. The understanding of it comers only after a long, devoted and profound effort….”
~ Vincent Hartgen, Comment for “A Maine Reunion” exhibit, Central Place Gallery, Bangor, Me. 1989.