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For many years the crux of my concern as a painter has been the line between spontaneity and conscious intention. |
For many years the crux of my concern as a painter
has been the line between spontaneity and conscious intention. Having
relocated from New York City to Connecticut, I am again surrounded by
nature and feel this concern deepening.Contemplating
the brook outside my studio, I see it fluctuating from a trickle to a
gushing torrent. Obsessed by the fleeting moment, I construct
atmospheres and perpetually shifting shapes. Each moment elicits a
distinct vision and gives rise to figurative forms that dance amidst
the layering of paint, as the process of painting merges my
unconscious, meditative self with forces of nature.Nature
ensures continual change — be it the light of day, an animal’s
movement, or the decay of a plant — and acts as a catalyst helping me
to uncover new, complicated terrain and fresh forms. I want to capture
the varying possibilities inherent in each moment and examine
perspectives I have never before considered. Upon completion, I want
each painting to have a life of its own. A painting is inanimate, but
somehow it must live and breathe.It
must balance calm with chaos. Amid the play of unfettered energy, there
must be moments of respite. Amid natural colors there must be a place
for the unprecedented colors of today. Echoes from painting’s past
must blend with the imprint of the immediate present as I experience it.And
I am concerned with the experience of the viewer. Landscapes of the
mind playing off the landscape of the natural world, my paintings
encourage viewers to bring their own visual history and visual memory
into play. Ideally, members of the audience will interact with my
paintings as intensely I interacted with my surrounding as I painted
them.
