About the Artist
Artist Statement
I am a figurative realist painter whose subjects inhabit a dreamy, otherworldly landscape. There’s almost always a mystical element, or spiritual undertone, to my work. I prioritize the figure; it is in the figure’s relationship with the viewer, the environment and with meaningful objects, that I work out the content in my art. As an oil painter, I value draftsmanship and technical skill, and while I love a range of styles, my own is realism, albeit in fantastic settings at times.
The ideas behind my work generally come from my own life, whether from personal experience, or relating to questions (life concerns & philosophical problems) that I wrestle with. Even when my figurative work might be classified as portraiture, the work portrays an inner depth and spirit that moves it beyond a straightforward portrait. In all these works, I utilize a language of intimacy because that is the position from which I paint.
Figurative art is about painting body and soul; these are conveyed through gesture, pose and expression, light and shadow. One of the most powerful things a painter can do is endow the figure with a feeling of conscious presence. Consciousness is always in relation to something, so relating the figure’s presence to pictorial content helps me animate that spirit. Above all, the figure must be believable.
These figures are closely observed, even to fine nuances of expression and gaze, so my figures resonate a living reality. My paintings are an enigmatic mix of the objectively personal centered in a disquieting transcendence. Although the work has sentiment, it is never sentimental. The unsettled intimacy of the work echoes the human spirit. Loving life, but dying a little each day, it is honest and close, but complex, and so it is veiled.
Although the work created is personal, it is not meant to conform solely to my view of the world. It is my hope and intent that the art supports a range of interpretations. The paintings are meant to respect and transcend our differences so that viewers may discern their own story in the art.
Personal Statement
Fifty years and four days after Frida Kahlo fractured her spine in a horrific accident, I likewise fractured mine. Frida was eighteen and I was seventeen years old, and while the particulars of our accidents and lives have varied, it also happened in both our cases that artistic production became a support, a vocation, and ultimately, a way of life. Over many years Frida suffered serial spinal surgeries that seemed only to worsen her pain condition. I also endured multiple surgeries and several years of intensive physical therapy, but my profound paralysis was eventually overcome.
My artistic interest in the influence of pain and disability on personality and character had its roots in these early experiences. This interest expanded during my master’s program as I began to paint and study the development of my youngest son, Sam. At the time of my painterly interest, he was on the cusp of adolescence; I worked to understand his passage out of childhood towards adulthood, through intense years of growth and change. All children have uncertainties and vulnerability-- and seek their own strengths-- and this is heightened and magnified during adolescence. Interestingly, my portrayal of Sam moved from somewhat romanticized views, to paintings of unself-conscious vulnerability, to- finally-depictions of strength and autonomy.
Over the years, as I developed artistically, I investigated a wide array of artists covering many centuries, at times delving even more deeply into the life and art of those whose work I found compelling. Early on, I was drawn to Netherlandish painters Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden for their conscientious attention to detail and incredible facility portraying light reflections from ornate and varied surfaces. My palette retained their influence for many years. Van Gogh feeds my soul with his paintings and through his letters. And I admire Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varos for their use of autobiography and the juxtaposition of unusual images to advance meaning or evoke mystery. These last three, in particular, have been role models in that, like them, I want to examine life’s events and vagaries, but in such a way that meaningfulness extends past my personal circumstances.
My work has always prioritized the figure and still does. I work the content out from the figure’s relationship with the environment and with meaningful objects. I have also re-examined works over 10 years old to see if and how the pictorial content changed with the years. Interestingly, those featuring circumstantial problems, no matter how intense at the time, changed significantly. Others, highlighting core philosophies, barely changed at all.
Once I identify a topic, I consider how to translate that idea into images; initial sketches aim at developing the concept pictorially. With the composition decided, I photograph people positioned as in my sketch, with objects to support meaning whenever possible. I arrange and direct multiple light sources for maximum impact. These photographed scenes will become the resources I paint from. Though I love to paint from life, in my figurative work I generally don’t have that luxury.
At this point, the work’s meaning is established and so my attention moves from content to form because, from here on, I want the painting to lead. Although I keep an eye on the work’s unfolding meaning, compositional concerns are primary, and decisions are made intuitively with visual judgment. In yielding to compositional and painterly concerns, the work’s meaning develops a measure of ambiguity that facilitates a more diverse viewing experience. I intend my work to have just enough ambiguity that its meaning is relevant to (each) viewer’s circumstances. As humans, many of our life experiences are shared in common; I use my own particular experiences to touch on that common chord, so each viewer can find meaning relevant to their own circumstances. From this it follows that the viewer’s interpretation of my work should be-- must be-- for her, most accurate. I believe that such authority over the work empowers the viewer. To this end, I am interested in making art whose elements have no absolutely fixed or inscribed meaning, but a fluidity that creates even greater coherence collectively, more meaningful and accessible for being carried forward together.
