Artist Statement

Paintings

It seems fairly clear that the longer an artist stays in the game, the more vague the game becomes and definitions surrounding what art actually is broadens to a great open spectrum. Art is in the process of ritual; it is in the moment of creation. Whether that moment is filled with the aroma of wet paint, contemplating where the next brush will fall, or the sound of sandpaper smoothing a frame where the newborn painting will call its home. Art exists in every step of the process, in every decision made to aid and abet its creation. With this understanding, I am free to allow my work to find its own direction and evolve naturally, without the looming threat of impatience and ego.

In my ever-growing series simply titled Panels, the paintings seem to grow organically as if they were a life. They are more constructed rather than conceived and created. This construction allows the paintings to develop independently from my will alone. My process involves many layers of additive and subtractive methods of painting, or in other words, building up and removing paint, gesso and other materials. The panels are made of wood or hard board allowing the stability within the medium to create texture, merging the illusion of depth with depth itself. The viewer is invited to interact with the painting without being told what to see.

Mixed Media Boxes

Rather than claiming intention surrounding the initial conception the mixed media boxes, I can begin by answering simply; it was for her. The first box was created as a housing for a handful of lichen brought back from the Yukon Territory to be given to the woman who would become my wife. As I created the textures and stitching of this first box, I worked simultaneously on what was at the time, the largest painting to be included in the Panel series. Once again, it was for her. Today, this dual creation of boxes and paintings is an integral part of my creative process. The textures and abstract compositions that exist in the Panel paintings on a large scale, are created in the same way and for that matter at the same time, as the textures and composition of the paintings on the boxes. I create the boxes in a suite if 10 at one time. Each step in the process is mirrored from the boxes to the accompanying Panel paintings and all paintings are created in 2 parts as a diptych. By the time the boxes are ready to be bound, signed and numbered, the paintings enter their final stages of completion as well. My work tends to become influenced by it’s self and a sort of cross-evolution is shared back and forth from one medium to another. This pattern of exchanged influence is at the very core of my work and will continue to be nurtured and encouraged to grow.