Artist’s Statement 2008

The continuing thread in my work is a concern with mapping and reflecting psychological transformations or conditions, and evoking a meaningful recognition of these ideas.

At the foundation of these “head pieces” - as I think of them -  is an education based in post-abstract figuration, with its underlying dedication to the concrete study of the object in nature. Surprisingly, in this work that I experience personally as uncomfortably representational, I have found a wide–open avenue for reconsidering raw expressionism and the meditative and passionate aspects of color-field dynamics.

Amazingly, the human mind devotes a specific area entirely to the recognition and decoding of faces, instantaneously informing us of the other’s gender, state of being, and intentions. The certain disadvantage in employing such a familiar device demands an in-depth investigation into the image and materials in order to reach an emotional honesty. Invariably, through this struggle, the piece slips beyond the general idea that could be envisioned or intended, into it’s own presence, power and expression.

Further, I am very interested in the almost universal pleasure we take from the medium of paint, both as artists and observers. The techniques used to handle paint have become culturally referential and highly suggestive in themselves.  The questions of how to employ such a known material, and how to overcome a familiarity with the expected solutions, are constant, underlying concerns. My expectation is that the viewer will experience the piece both as sensual, almost accidental events of paint, and through the eventual discovery of interrelationships between elements and ideas, much as we do in our experience of oneself and others.

Also surfacing here is my long-held attraction to the spontaneous, emotional irreverence of urban graffiti - as these paintings do not seem to ask for permission or gentle appreciation, as much as they demand a visceral response. And, as is also the case with most graffiti, (splashed or sprayed out under the pressure of time and cultural restrictions), the evidence of the physical gesture in the piece cohabits the space with a literal message or provocative symbol.

In striving for a raw, untried translation of the head, failure seems -at least partially- ensured by my own condition: a brain wired precisely as most other humans. Challenging this limitation creates a tension that intrigues me and opens new territory in which to encounter this medium.