Artist Statement

Fundamental to my practice is the notion that our experience is almost entirely governed by chance. I begin paintings with only a basic composition but no goal. I observe how my chosen materials interact with each other as I engage with the textures, colors and shapes that emerge. For me this mirrors the serendipitous and integral process that is life.

I am interested in how objects in the environment acquire and shed particular characteristics as well as how people accrue and evolve personal traits. Wind, water and chemical elements collide and interact over time creating the layers of texture and color on the earth’s material surfaces. This is analogous to the personal interactions both nurturing and challenging that underpin human experience and contribute to a unique personality. While these processes appear parallel, consciousness appears to act as a bridge between external and internal activity, making them interdependent. While we experience the mental world as separate from the physical, it is in fact a subtle continuation.

Though inspired by natural materials as well as organic and industrial decay, I avoid literal imagery. Ambiguity is fundamental to experience and allows the observer to become part of the piece. While primarily abstract there is an intentional terrain pareidolia. Beginning with this perception, the viewer is invited to access their own memories and associations regarding what they see. As they engage with the piece they become part of the process. What is a close up rock surface to one viewer may be a satellite view of water to another. Like each observer, each piece is a unique microcosm. In the moment of observation they are interconnected and shaping each other. As they explore these pieces, I invite the viewer to reflect on their own experience of the interdependent processes that govern our relationships with each other and with our ecosystem.

Perceptual in nature, these paintings are intended to inspire quiet experiential reflection which may be personal or touch on something universal. Each is a meditation on time and the mystery, spaciousness and rich accidental beauty of the natural world as well as its fragility.