Artist's Statement
Mixed Media Panels – Furniture - Objets d’Art
I love experimenting with unconventional mediums in a continual effort to capture a sense of the magical. My work is primarily textural incorporating a subtle intermingling of regular patterns and amorphous shimmering colors.
As far as art education is concerned - although I did study art in school and college - I am primarily self-taught in all the styles, techniques and mediums I currently employ. It was not until the new millinneum that I found the courage to use nontraditional mediums and texture in my work or to delve into the purely abstract. I was 'rehabilitated'. Now, I can't even imagine doing anything that lacked color and texture or was purely representational.
I am sometimes asked what I was thinking about when I was creating a particular piece. I suppose I could try to make something up that sounded deeply intellectual or spiritual but, in truth, I strive not to think about anything at all. This is a very old principal to which I was introduced in martial arts known as mushin. If I permit myself to be influenced by thoughts or preconceived notions about what a piece should be or how a piece should look, it almost always appears artificial or contrived. As in nature, my goal is to make my pieces appear perfectly random yet with an underlying indefinable sense of purpose.
Some people might accuse me of being inconsistent but I keep my work fresh by continually experimenting with new techniques, materials or mediums. I usually produce only limited series of a particular style of work. If I develop a specific process or system for creating a piece, I feel my work is inexorably beginning to lose its spontaneity and ultimately, its joy of creation.
I only name my pieces as mnemonic device. At least for me, a silly pun or personal joke is always easier to remember than some arbitrary number. And the often humorous names I come up with remind me and others (I hope) not to take my work too seriously. However, I do feel that naming my pieces can sometimes be misleading or confusing. My work is meant to be about itself only. If one of my pieces does seem to evoke a particular image, mood or idea, it is consciously unintentional on my part. It is more likely that people see in them a reflection of their own moods, dreams or ideas.
For me, the hardest part of creating art is knowing how and when to quit. This is only because I love the artistic process so much that I literally hate for it to end. For me, the finished work is just a by-product of the actual process. It is like a souvenir or vacation photograph which serves as a bittersweet reminder of a happy moment forever lost to time.
Rating 4.0 (1 vote)
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