Art by Media
Historically, painting told the stories of a culture on the surfaces of sacred spaces such as caves and temples. Today, visual storytelling has mainly moved to photography and film, and imagination and ideas are expressed in all creative mediums. What remains unique to visual art is the hand of the artist and the visceral relationship of the art object to both the maker and viewer of the art.
Art-making is my primary spiritual action. Creating art allows me to express my unique manifestation as a body and as a conscious being.
My process depends on persistence, perception and discovery. I plan, write about, and execute each piece carefully. I strive to articulate how the meaning should take form in every detail, from the particular pigments to the action of the composition, to the order of the layers and the variety of methods I employ.
My paintings include elements of cartooning and prettiness, as well as areas of control that come from my deep interest in the history of painting, for example, layers of complex glazes next to an illustrated form, indirect painting and brushy gestures. Shapes are rendered, branded, stamped, and rigorously reproduced from projections but made to look like random marks. Taped edges are combined with planned drips, spray paint, and outlines. Paintings are on wood panel, metal cutouts and dimensional forms.
My sculptures and wall installations are often dimensional explorations of shapes that are invented in quick brushstroke in a painting or drawing. I try to imagine their shapes and sizes, and how they exist in relation to the scale of your body seeing the work. I use whatever materials are right for the piece: metal, wood, plaster, concrete, glass, clay, fabric, vinyl.
Seen together, the work shows the evolutions of shapes through multiple processes, iterations, sizes and materials. I incorporate methods that appear easy but are labor-intensive, and make icons out of what originated as quick gestures. I question the eidetic reading of shapes, whether the abstract forms reference known objects, or if it is possible that an imagined shape is unique and can elicit its own visceral response.
