Artist Statement
My recent work is an investigation into the nature of wonder, awe, and mystery. The spectator is unmoored from familiar surroundings and preconceived notions of landscape and wilderness, a rupture introducing a vertiginous, dreamlike quality. Renaissance space is largely inconsequential, as the non-linear logic of dreams, memories, and childlike perception is predominant.
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I am currently fascinated with water and reflection, as well as land. The reflection of trees, clouds, etc. all hint of metaphorical spaces of above and below. Water symbolizes wildness, the unknown, fear—and surcease. It symbolizes the unconscious, and the process of painting.
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I am in interested in creating spaces that entice the viewer to go in and wander around. Rather than conceptual concerns, my paintings are open ended and delve into the sensual, beautiful and mystical aspects of the things of the world. Deep beauty is never just pretty, but touched with foreboding. I am interested in the irony, or dichotomy, and cyclical nature of life. My paintings are about disintegration, reformation, growth, decay, and what’s behind the veil of materiality. Space reflects psychological states, both individually and culturally. I tend to create micro and macro spaces in my work, and sometimes the space “flip-flops.”
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I once read that even if we never go to the Grand Canyon, for example, it is important for all of us to know that it exists and is there for us. It is part of our national psyche. I think art exists in a similar way.