Artist Statement
I work with oil paint, charcoal, conté, and silver leaf, on paper, linen, or wood panel; primarily from (figurative) photographs which I have taken. My subjects are models, friends, or even myself. I draw inspiration from nature and from master artists such as Hung Liu, John Singer Sergent, Leonardo da Vinci, and contemporary artists.
Transformation series
Situations, circumstances, and developments in life can deconstruct lifelong beliefs and perceptions of identity and reality. This series was painted while I was experiencing the aftermath of a serious loss. I see the creative process at the time as part of the grieving process itself. Grief isn't a simple emotion; it encompasses much more than feelings. I saw pure abstraction as a means to express what I either couldn't adequately identify or didn't know I was processing.
Emergence series
After a transformation comes an emergence, the next natural phase, the result of a metamorphosis. On the surface of it, every painting is an emergence. My Emergence series was based on concepts of Emergence Theory, which has applications to systems ranging from economic to sociological, to biological, where the outcomes of actions are only predictable to a certain point. Given the necessary conditions a new pattern emerges, previously unpredictable according to established empirical precepts, that adheres to a new pattern with a different outcome.
These paintings began with the intention of creating work in a series where the result would be determined by the pattern established during the process of the work itself, with the outcome formed by the comprising pieces. They began as photographs that I took of myself in phases of movement with the resulting gesture of the image being unplanned or unposed. The work became an exploration or observation of the process of reassembling the pieces of self as part of the healing process.
Transformation series
Situations, circumstances, and developments in life can deconstruct lifelong beliefs and perceptions of identity and reality. This series was painted while I was experiencing the aftermath of a serious loss. I see the creative process at the time as part of the grieving process itself. Grief isn't a simple emotion; it encompasses much more than feelings. I saw pure abstraction as a means to express what I either couldn't adequately identify or didn't know I was processing.
Emergence series
After a transformation comes an emergence, the next natural phase, the result of a metamorphosis. On the surface of it, every painting is an emergence. My Emergence series was based on concepts of Emergence Theory, which has applications to systems ranging from economic to sociological, to biological, where the outcomes of actions are only predictable to a certain point. Given the necessary conditions a new pattern emerges, previously unpredictable according to established empirical precepts, that adheres to a new pattern with a different outcome.
These paintings began with the intention of creating work in a series where the result would be determined by the pattern established during the process of the work itself, with the outcome formed by the comprising pieces. They began as photographs that I took of myself in phases of movement with the resulting gesture of the image being unplanned or unposed. The work became an exploration or observation of the process of reassembling the pieces of self as part of the healing process.