Artist Statement

For me, abstract painting is a way of exploring the invisible—the unknowable or indefinable aspects of Life as I perceive it. Instead of words or sound, I use colors, angles, shapes and forms. I strive to pin down the archetypal and essential in a painting thus the repetitive use of the triangle, the circle, and the square—the most basic visual shapes that can be perceived by all, but can be reinterpreted by the artist and acquire specific traits. After many years of drawing the figure and analyzing the elements of drawing, painting and design, I now, as an abstractionist, can apply the same rules of composition, depth, overlapping, mark making, texture and transparency to create exciting and satisfying images. However, the scale of my work and essential nature of the forms I use allow the viewer to interpret the painting more personally and experience it viscerally, closely paralleling my own experience while painting it.

In 1980, I attempted to pinpoint symbols found in art and architecture that would have universal meaning. I discovered that the world can use the same symbol in such very different ways and only a few can be relied upon to be universal.

In earlier works featuring nautilus shells and wasps nests, I am searching, almost demanding order in the universe. In the later works, I am accepting a sense of controlled chaos as my life progresses. The experience of caring for a centenarian has altered my sense of time and space, and introduced the edge of mortality. The value of accepting things we cannot see, know or control as part of the same orderly universe that creates the nautilus shell, the Fibonnacci sequence that shows up everywhere, as much in birth as in death.

“I study Nature first, searching for primary, universal forms and ideas, symbols that all human beings may relate to. Inspired by the physical beauty of my materials, I approach the work openly tapping into this understanding of the natural world and allowing the act of painting to transform knowledge into a visual dialogue.” 

Awards

First Place, Driven To Abstraction Juried Art Show, Huntington Arts Council, 2015