 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
|
|||
One of my goals is to bridge the gap between art/artist and the viewer by posing questions rather than offering answers. The result is that the viewer becomes part of my artistic process. If questions are focused merely on technique or academic rules, I have failed. To present an image, idea or concept is nothing if it does not compel those that are looking at it to respond. The work can be shocking, ironic, beautiful challenging, inspiring or peaceful to ask for participation from the observer. The viewer's interpretation or unique vision is more interesting to me than if they accurately understand my so called intent/content. If this experience causes a viewer to ponder, wonder or form an opinion, I have satisfied a significant part of my artistic mission. This can happen in an endless variety of ways..... I enjoy creating art that is at once frightening and beautiful or peaceful and confusing or comfortable and challenging. I have high aspirations for my current work and seek for it to reach beyond my own personal passions and move into the hopeful realm of changing the world around me, the people and perhaps even part of our collective consciousness. I hope the work explores more than mere objects, places or moments in time.
“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery” - Francis Bacon
My work has been referred to as "Symbolic Magic Realism". Being long fascinated by rites, rituals, ceremonies and the spiritual practioners of various past and present cultures, my work is often influenced by those religions, mythologies and belief systems. My hope is to create work that is timeless and less attached to Post Modernism’s seemingly endless tendancy to acknowledge work that is dominated by academic concepts and intellectual evaluation. The paintings strive to focus on emotion over thought: heart over head. For me, mystery and sensuality are more inspiring than celebrating supposed new ideas. I find questions and answers become secondary to discoveries triggered by emotion. Technique is a tool, thought an opinion and passion an undeniable truth. To seek to achieve such a lofty goal as being magical and real at once, is challenging and very rewarding. To meld nature with spirituality and beauty with enigma feels quite natural. If my art offers an oppportunity for for the viewer to discover something new about themselves or explore an emotion, I am truly awed by the power and magic of art. My artistic journey requires me to look for beauty and mystery in unexpected places and within a magical world just at the edge of reality. This quest is my savior and my muse.
"Strangeness is the essential condiment of beauty" - Charles Pierre Baudelaire
|
|
||||
 |
|
||||
 |
|
||||
 |
|
||||
 |
|
||||
 |
|