My work is influenced by what I see, confounded by what I experience, and then completely altered by the time the paint hits the canvas.
I am mostly drawn to abstraction, or the abstracted figure, because of the lack of confines in abstraction….the challenge of creating something provocative out of nothing, and never knowing what to expect. I try to bring out dichotomies in my work such as movement/stillness, organic/structured, and surrender to the sense of play as the images and materials take form.
My process is very physical, in which I energetically cover the canvas with thick layers of paint, mostly with a palette knife, that are worked and reworked, scraped and peeled. The texture becomes an object as well as a space; it is empty yet has a restless energy. This method allows me little control, suggesting emotions and states of being rather than detailing. I love the challenge of rebelling against the rules of order and finding passages of harmony in the discord.
Music is an integral part of my process. Loud, rhythmic music pulsating in my studio helps take me to an altered state of mind where brushstrokes often follow the beat and forms materialize, simultaneously revealing and disappearing as the music moves me.
Painting is a visceral experience for me and is just as much about the process itself as it is the product. This recent work is very much about my own personal voyage/exploration. None of the paintings can be placed but they all involve the journey from one destination to the unknown, internal worlds that I am attempting to externalize….the landscapes of my mind.
Lately I have also been enjoying photography, another medium that both informs and inspires my painting.....