When I was young I was fascinated by anything that could fly. Flight seemed magical yet natural for things built to catch the wind.
Aircraft, rockets, and birds still capture my attention, and though I now understand the mechanics of flight, I continue to marvel at the process. When it comes to birds, I'm especially interested in all aspects of our winged friends. Their many diverse sizes, shapes, and colors appeal to my artistic sensibilities. The way they fly, evolve, and live engages my cerebral side. Studying how birds interact with humans excites my spirit.
My current body of work explores birds in two mediums. The ceramic sculptures are fired using minerals and other earth elements to produce surfaces with unpredictable colors and textures, while their pared-down forms evoke the grace and mystery of the animals. While similar in focus and intent, no two are alike. My acrylic paintings have a similar technique, in that they combine expressive, abstract patterns and textures with refined shapes and silhouettes that temper the chaos within, balancing the visual kinetic and potential energies throughout.
Ultimately, my artwork seeks to connect nature with our collective culture. Throughout history, birds have signified the messenger, hunter, guide, or omen in personal and world mythology. They link ground and sky, seen and unseen. My goal is to create a visual narrative of the important and positive connection between people and nature, utilizing birds as agents of that union.
This painting is situated around techniques that have less to do with traditional methods if oil painting but were learned from levels of precision employed in commercial productions related to animation and illustration. Super clean line work witnessed at the studios of the Power Puff Girls animators applied with oil to render high contrasted fractal based images gleaned from online 10- hour rave psychedelic background visuals. This combined with gestural strategies related to Actionism. Also a deep appreciation for the Sublime permeates as it relates to the activation of the deepest emotional content that is pertaining to life preservation. In this way painting becomes a thrill seeking activity and purely joyful. This follows in the tradition of pioneer Kazuo Shiraga who painted with his feet and sought to bring new energy and optimism to Japanese art and life in the wake of authoritarian rule.
