Biography
Fractions of time, a fragment of time, the fugitive combination of factors that open a breach I out minds. Birds precisely spread across the sky; dawns light marking the underbelly of clouds up above; the broken geometry of warehouses on a plane below, My work has focused on patterns over recent years, gradually emerging from my ongoing interest in narrative. Patterns that mark our passage, patterns we have viewed, fabricated, neglected or fractured. For many years I was interested in telling a story with my work in a metaphorical way. Years ago I became interested in the ambiguity and possibility in these stories, the interstices created by memory and individual experience that make each story that is being told different for each viewer. More recently this process has flowed toward an interest in pattern and contrast. In content, I have the sense that the specific events in our individual experience are merged into something more dramatic and fluid. Stories are part of something that moves and flows through space and time. This work examines, interprets and integrates natural and constructed patterns in specific instances, such as birds in flight, fish in the water, the growth of trees, the decay of buildings or neighborhoods. Research for these pieces is taken both from direct observation of the tropical environment, bibliographic and digital resources and art historical study. I have a sustained history and interest in finding unrecognized and underappreciated aspects of historical art, as a painter I feel privy to an extraordinary tradition, marked by the weaknesses and deficiencies of its protagonists and filled with unique rich moments. In the development of my recent work I have looked extensively at Jean Honore Fragonards portrayal of animated trees and foliage in his Progress of Love series. I am also working with the representation of architectural elements, often simplified to the point of geometrical repetition. These structures present patterns that are another element, a contrast to the organic patterns they invade and interact with. Essentially this work is a process of research and exploration. I am integrating materials into the work freely, using ink, charcoal, pencil, acrylic paint, oil paint, encaustic and dry pigments in different combinations on varied substrates. The fluid instances in this work collectively form a space of curiosity, of vitality and discovery that is still very much in process.
