Artist Statement

 

          Long before I realized my life’s passion was for art I can recall years of my adolescence when, during a less than thrilling lecture on mathematics or English, I would set my mind on making simple linear drawings. I found myself confounded by the fact that some ways in which the lines were organized looked more interesting than others. I would repeatedly draw the same shapes overtop of one another looking for the ways they would make sense and feel unified and complete. It would be a long time before my work with graphic design and layouts would help me understand ways in which organized space functions, and even longer before I would begin making a goal of seeking that unity within these organizations. Within these compositions I found the need to define space and create tension.

 

          I found myself wanting to follow in the traditions of the 1950s and 60s where painting can be an object itself, but turning away from that tradition I did not want the pieces to end there. I retained instead the more traditional figure ground relationship but with more ambiguity, so that multiple painted objects lap on top of one another. It becomes the viewer’s job to decipher the rhythms and tension in the space that’s defined; approaching and watching each object pull and push within fixed space as well as the constant subtle ebb and flow of tension To me, success occurs within a piece when I view it and everything feels as though it has fallen into place, a passionate expression collected and secured within the confines of the organization.