Fine Art

My Recent Work

I have fully embraced my old love of ornamentation and pattern, and strive to elevate it in a manner that expresses both artistic concerns and personal, subconscious feelings. Pattern flattens objects. Indeed, I have little interest in presenting the illusion of 3 dimensionality beyond the enriching the micro-millimeters of the painting surface. The surface tension fascinates me more. I choose to use easily recognized objects, and then repeatedly construct and deconstruct them via pattern and color.

Time and the artistic decision process also concern me. I always look for clues in others’ works, little windows back to earlier stages and changes in direction, and try to leave them visible in mine as well. My work is usually compiled of multiple layers. The earliest are often spontaneous, wilder, even chaotic. The mid stages involve creating order out of the mess. Without that bad-boy mess, I am not satisfied. Therefor, repeat performances rarely work. If I attempt to recreate a new piece using an successful proven recipe, it flops.

Lastly comes the stage of adding little flourishes to the painting. Decorating is calming for me emotionally, yet it has its own dangers. Once again, I must strike the fine balance between the pretty and the pithy.

All that I have just written is true for my use of color as well. I must include ghastly mud shades and painful contrasts in every work, and then gently tie them together. The visual surprises are used at the very start. Then I rediscover: Just as softly spoken words are often the most profound, so too the slightest contrasts in saturation and hue are often the most resonating.