Artist’s Statement

I am primarily interested in taking painting into the third dimension. I want to paint in real, as well as illusionary space. The wall is a critical space for my work to function as the flat aspect of painting dematerializes and shadowed painterly shapes begin to move in space. I want the final result to function as a three dimensional painting and a sculpture modified and enhanced by it’s painted surface. What is much harder to define but critical to the life of these works is the very visceral, instinctual nature that informs them. When a work is successful, it sets of a series of responses that pure formalism does not. I can point to specific parts of these abstractions that refer to nature, the human body, sexuality, transcendence, death, spirituality but the total experience of the piece is much more important and it’s sense of presence is the goal. The work is arrived at by very Intuitive searching, its structure forms improvisationaly. I do not want to arrive at a specific result or a specific meaning but prefer to gather meaning as the work evolves. There is an affinity between this approach to abstract wall relief and jazz music. Both Art forms have been around since the twenties, both have been submerged by changes in cultural consumption and both are re-emerging now. This work is modernism without apology, cross- disciplinary, many sided, multi- colored, multi- meaning and involved with a mystery. I never know how it will end until the last page.