My art lives where memory and experience of places – both real and imagined – intersect. The need to untangle and express the less knowable aspects of one’s imagination has long been central to my approach. My paintings are also explorations into fields of color, lyrical forms often inspired by music as well as the ambiguity of spatial relationships that I have discovered in the topography of place. When painting, I am inventing another world that has no morning or midnight, no beginning or end; instead, I try to capture a suspended moment in time. Ideally, the images act with the unexpected quality of syncopated rhythm, accenting a beat normally unaccented.
In the year before anyone had heard of COVID, I was fortunate enough to travel to Cantabria in Northern Spain where I visited Paleolithic caves, located in the mountains. These prehistoric caves are home to some of the earliest art ever created by humans. I was struck by the thought of generations of people coming into these caves, drawing horses, bison, reindeer, striated engraved lines which resemble abstract linear patterns, and leaving their handprints as a signature of sorts for others to see for thousands of years. Also, the sight of stalactites hanging like icicles from the cave ceilings along with the stalagmites rising from the floor fueled new work upon my return home.
When Shelter in Place was implemented in California back in March 2020, I paused from driving to my studio where my larger paintings are created. I began working on small mixed media works on paper and canvas which I now refer to as my, “Pandemic Kitchen Table Paintings.” These paintings are part of my ongoing series, “Places You Will Go,” and provide an opportunity for me to dive into my imagination. Although, reality remains at a distance while painting, the work is not just escapism for me, but a way to reflect on this unprecedented period.
My artistic process is stimulated by that moment when the act of painting can trigger the unexpected. It is this heightened anticipation that continually fuels my passion for painting. Ultimately, I strive to create an atmosphere in my work that is filled with the mystery and vestiges of memory that engage the present.
In the year before anyone had heard of COVID, I was fortunate enough to travel to Cantabria in Northern Spain where I visited Paleolithic caves, located in the mountains. These prehistoric caves are home to some of the earliest art ever created by humans. I was struck by the thought of generations of people coming into these caves, drawing horses, bison, reindeer, striated engraved lines which resemble abstract linear patterns, and leaving their handprints as a signature of sorts for others to see for thousands of years. Also, the sight of stalactites hanging like icicles from the cave ceilings along with the stalagmites rising from the floor fueled new work upon my return home.
When Shelter in Place was implemented in California back in March 2020, I paused from driving to my studio where my larger paintings are created. I began working on small mixed media works on paper and canvas which I now refer to as my, “Pandemic Kitchen Table Paintings.” These paintings are part of my ongoing series, “Places You Will Go,” and provide an opportunity for me to dive into my imagination. Although, reality remains at a distance while painting, the work is not just escapism for me, but a way to reflect on this unprecedented period.
My artistic process is stimulated by that moment when the act of painting can trigger the unexpected. It is this heightened anticipation that continually fuels my passion for painting. Ultimately, I strive to create an atmosphere in my work that is filled with the mystery and vestiges of memory that engage the present.