ARTIST’S STATEMENT

 

As an artist, as a citizen of the world, I am attracted to the power of images that call forth social issues as well as images and concepts from the history of art:  such things as the physicality of the material world, environmental issues, reflecting and honoring individual’s ideals.  For me a merging of painterly expressiveness appropriate to monumental subjects and monumental scale are very important.  I draw upon lessons learned from other artists such as Beckman, Matisse and Picasso.

 

My paintings evolve through the process of change.  The image on the canvas arises out of the struggle with the paint.  I paint from life, drawings and photographs.  Generally, I arrange and rearrange forms, either animate or inanimate in a shallow space.  During the process of arranging, I modify objects in size and shape in order to produce a balanced painting and not to make a replication of perceptual reality.

 

I apply the pigment with brushes, painting knives and rags.  I alternate very active areas with flat areas on the canvas.  Warm and cool colors as well as light and dark values are used on the canvas.  There is usually one color that dominates the finished painting.  The surface energy, texture and color combine to give an emotional quality to my paintings.