STATEMENT

I draw upon a collection of educational and professional disciplines, from design to music, to create works that hopefully connect, uplift and challenge people as well as satisfy my own motivation to make beautiful images. I honor the principles of picture making: composition, value, color, texture, rhythm, narrative, but also look for opportunities to challenge them. The outcome, whatever the medium, is rooted in representation and observation, however, the experience I’m chasing lies somewhere between the spiritual and physical worlds and is accessed within the creative process. My goal is to be direct, intentional and efficient, and while I prefer subtracting/omitting/re-doing areas over building up/layering, I rely on both methodologies and regard them as crucial. Whether I’m painting or making a collage my tendency is toward a linear process, laying down one piece/one brushstroke at a time, which creates a sort of anticipation I both enjoy and dread. It requires me to be strategic, and deters me from moving too fast. What inspires me are the sudden, fleeting moments I encounter in everyday life: observing the dance of light and shadow in the landscape; a musical performance that makes me move or moves me to tears; the satisfaction I get from making a mark with a loaded brush. I set out on a journey each time with an infinite number of directions, never quite knowing where it will lead. Getting lost is the objective–existing in an alternate reality outside of time. There is a mystery and magic to how it unfolds that I have no desire to “figure out.” There are failures and surprising rescues. There is an internal dialogue of questioning how to proceed and the intuition that takes over that defies rationale. All of this is the elixir that keeps me coming back for more.