| Professional
Goal  To produce work that individual clients,
galleries, and museums consider important. Not just for its market value but for how
it provokes. A nontraditional sense of provocation. I want to entertain,
intrigue, enlighten and inform. I deal in reality, not the abstracted because I
think the world as is offers much inspiration. Henry James wrote, "It is art
that makes life, makes interest, makes importance." If my art can claim just
one of the three, I will consider myself a success.
Artist Statement
Who are we? As an artist what role do I have to play in all
of this? These are the questions that I ask myself everyday as I read the newspaper and
scour the magazines for society's detritus from which I get inspiration. The human
condition plays itself out in my imagination, in my sketchbooks, and in my created pieces.
 An earlier career in advertising has led me
towards creating paintings and sculptures, that are narratives of collected and often
figurative materials, and sometimes I'm even trying to sell you a bill of goods. Actually
my art is really serious business with a sense of humor. I freely pull from a myriad of
sources that span the cultural spectrum, and I'm often tackling the differences between
men and women, religion, sports, film, music, sexuality, infidelity, and American
machismo.
A series that is continuing in my oeuvre are large
billboard like maps in the shape of the United States which are clearly composed of
gestures and pictorial residue from where I present my narratives and juxtapositions.
These works are sculptural in nature but employ painting techniques similar to Richard
Prince and Jasper Johns.
Role playing in this tabloid society has led me towards
thinking of my works as "Artifacts from our Peyton Place America." Each work is
carefully researched and composed. Often, I find myself hiding information, and sometimes
technique from the viewer just to see what they pickup on. Painting becomes more than an
exercise. On occasion I'm in a one act play reviving an idea or comparison that I would
like to share. Often inspiration comes from other media such as television, and the
internet. I dig deeply for materials and I want to translate that to my works in progress.
How many layers of thinking can I get my viewer to do to find the "rub", as I
call it, or mixed messages in each piece? These elements continue to effect my thinking
and drive my work.
Occasionally I repeat elements or imagery for cadence or
reinvestigation. The graphic image of a man and a woman kissing, that I fondly refer to as
"The Royals" is another perfect example of my continuing societal commentary of
who we are. We do not have real "Royalty" in this culture, and sometimes I
wonder just who are our heroes, Kings, and Queens. Our tabloid culture sets the standards
for our comedy meets tragedy lifestyles, and this is where I find my rub. I really want
you to notice the color, the pageantry, and the beauty that is hidden sometimes beneath
the ugliness around us.
I present for you this beautiful confusion with nostalgic
wisdom, wit, desire, paint, clay, wood, and often with pithy quotes for all of us to
ponder. |
