Artist’s Statement February 1989

I am a painter which is the best way I know to approach people with my philosophy. The saying, “you can’t be all thing’s to all people,” is true. However, with painting I can express many feelings to a lot of different people. Everyone that stands in front of my paintings brings a unique way of seeing and questioning. I paint my imagination, my ideas, my beliefs, but I hope to use symbols that have universal associations. I present recognizable things, like the human figure, plant forms, geometric shapes, etc. to entice the viewer into the work. By arranging things in an unusual manner I force a second look, a journey further into the painting. What is real and what is depicted? I want to push the viewer toward this question. The line between fact and fiction is very thin when dealing with ideas.

Just like music is a universal language, I think the visual arts are too. Concepts like love, death, and deity are recognizable to all people. This relates to another belief that I try and portray in my art. That of the relatedness of everything to one another. The molecular and cellular makeup of disparate things are amazingly similar. So, while the outward appearance of things may be different, I try to paint that soul that relates, connects, and immerses that object in the world around us.

I love art making because it allows me a record of where I have been psychologically and spiritually. By confronting issues from within myself directly on the canvas, I become my own teacher, my own healer. Another benefit by raising these questions is that the viewer’s life can be altered also.

The night is darkest before dawn, people are wisest just before death. I try and portray that subtlest of moments before things disappear. When the eye and the mind have to search a little harder, the reward is that much greater. That is a beauty I find intriguing to capture.

These are some concepts that interest me now in art making. The exciting thing is to look forward to unlocking new doors, filled with new ideas, problems, and solutions. This carrot that dangles in front of me is more that enough to keep me painting.