ARTIST STATEMENT
For me painting with oil is a humbling experience of exploring, challenging, re-imagining and thinking critically about my perceptions of the world. Faced with an empty canvas I am free to use color, form, texture, line, and light to create an image that represents what I see and feel about a subject. Oscar Wilde, in a short play, The Decay of Lying, says “…reality is never beautiful until it has been cloaked in the lies that are from the imagination. “ When I view the world as a series of objects they are just that, objects. When I look at the world through the eyes of my imagination the objects are transformed in to experiences of beauty or ugliness; joy or sorrow; peace or pain. I want my paintings to invite the viewer to look at the world through his or her imagination; to feel the emotions, the smell the beauty, to touch the subjects.
I like to work with subjects that have simple lines, which are flowing, sensual and invite the eye to travel over them slowly. Much of my work depicts dramatic contrasts, especially those created by color, stark light and shadows which create illusion and depth. While I am most drawn to smooth touchable textures, I represent them in a manner that says they are substantial even when there are pieces of the entirety that suggest something fleeting or mysterious. My works also include oil paintings that honor the harsh and weathered nature that comes with fullness of life.
I know a painting is complete when it asks me to consider its story, who is the subject, why are they here, what is the place, how is it inhabited, is there joy or sorrow, and what happens next?
