Artist Statement

Adaptation, change, transformation and mutability are the primary themes that characterize my work. These issues manifest themselves in different ways – sometimes it is through the combination of disparate elements – a flower, bird, or landscape merging with mechanical or technical structures – other times, it is through geometric forms. Whether the forms are abstract or representational there is always a sense of alteration or development into something new.

I shift between painting through observation of collages and maquettes – and a more immediate process in which areas are masked off and then use a trowel and squeegee to apply the paint. Often, found objects such as string, wire mesh, or even a potato sack are used to make monotypes contributing to the heterogeneous nature of the work.

The geometric paintings employ a very systematic approach, and in some ways meditative – mixing palettes, masking shapes and applying paint with a sponge to maintain a smooth, flat surface. The intersecting panels convey a paradox — one of a carefully constructed accident — simultaneously intentional and random. The painted edges create the illusion that these flat shapes exist as three-dimensional objects and rest on the threshold of painting and sculpture.

My paintings are a continuation of 20th century artistic traditions – surrealism, objective and non-objective abstraction. The syntheses of these different visual languages continually lead to new and unexpected outcomes.