| Philosophy
|
I feel it’s my job as an artist to present you,
the viewer, with works
- • that have an integrity of their own,
- • that have something to say
- • that speak to you and
- • that cause you to respond from within.
|
Images have a power of their own, just as words
and music do. The subconscious speaks to us with images, as in dreams
and memories. One might say images are its medium (pun intended).
Its language is symbols. Many of my ideas for paintings originate
as images that pop up during meditation.
|
Through artwork I attempt to tap into
these streams and capture something of substance for me and I hope for
you, the viewer.
|
"In some way or other we are part of a
single, all-embracing psyche, a single
'greatest man. . . .'"
— C. G. Jung
|
I strongly believe in a beneficent creator and
evolving consciousness. With all our logic and verbalizations we
limit ourselves. The world is far richer than we see it. I would
like to expand horizons through my works.
|
I prefer abstract to representational art.
Slavishly reproducing the details of the world is futile practice
anymore, now that we have cameras. But if a work is too
abstract there’s little to fix one’s attention. To me there’s a
balance between showing too much and too little. Suggestion has more
emotional depth than visual detail—except maybe for gore and
pornography. A recognizable, but not well-defined form, invites
the viewer to complete it.
|
In addition, meaning is important to me.
I want to engage the viewer's mind, as well as her/his eye. In an
image, meaning must be conveyed indirectly by means of symbols, color and
tone, and the context of one’s culture.
|
| back to top |
| Background |
When I went to high school I did a lot
of artwork and planned to major in art in college, but it didn’t work
out. For a long time I thought of myself as artistic and oriented
toward fine arts. Then I went to work in an electronics manufacturing plant
and started to study electronics. Soon I was back in college,
studying physics. After earning my degree and working for a while
(not as a physicist), life went dead on me. I couldn’t seem to get
or hold a job.
So I tried starting my own business as a graphic artist (I felt I
needed balance). That didn’t work well, but it did bring me back to
doing “real” artwork with paint and canvas and whatever else I find
that might be interesting to work with. I particularly like auto
mirrors.
This feels more right.
|
| Techniques |
I’m always trying to bring more light and
sense of depth into my paintings–so I use a technique called chiaroscuro
(key-är-uh-skoo’-ro). After setting up the painting with its light
and dark values, I use transparent glazes to add color and depth.
Often I add glass beads to the glaze to bring in more light. The
result is the painting seems to glow.
|
"Where the spirit does not work with the
hand there is no art. "
— Leonardo da Vinci
|
Also, the glazes are smooth and flat, so I
add texture and dimensional elements to the painting by adding resins,
impasto buildups, sand, string, and other things. I like to experiment.
|
| Specific Works |
Lucentia is a foray into 3-D and
playing with planes for light and shadow effect, using sheet acrylic
or "plexiglass." It was fun, but I’ve returned to painting for the
time being because this media seems to have more potential for presenting
ideas and meaningful content. Also, right now I have a lot of ideas for
paintings to do.
|
"Lucentia-LED 1: String Effects" is
a lucentia piece with string LED lights (batteries included). This first piece is
pretty much exploratory. It did seem to work, though.
|
"Light Occulted" is a fiber piece
using automirrors shining through a cloth overlayer. The cloth,
cotton lawn, was very hard to get smooth. I consider this essentially
a failed piece, but it’s still interesting to view. When you pass by
it, the light reflected by the mirrors seems to move across the convex
surface and they shine through the cloth.
|
In closing, my favorite painters are
Georgia O’Keefe and Van Gogh. Henri Rousseau's "Sleeping Gypsy" has
been coming to mind a lot lately.
|
| back to top |
