I wanted to create my own language; this is how it began and felt myself a mirror; using painting, drawing, murals, mixed media. Although the visual vocabulary has changed it still is how I converse best of those dark and light places; reflect back into nature.
I can remember from the smallest age being greatly effected by light; through the trees, down a hallway, in a someone’s eyes, a star above.
It’s just about seeing.
I work primarily in oils, on several pieces consecutively; as if conducting an orchestra of various sounds and beats.
Music is a great influence on my work and many times has shown me the way to the next stroke. I want to create a painting that you can hear; the thunder, the wind, the dance, the rhythm; the soul.
The foundation of composition in a painting like “Chairs in Love” anchors a seemingly commonplace form to convey meaning that transcends lawn chairs to the centered heart amongst askew objects. The contrast of taking such simple objects to compose something as meaningful as passion, love, life and death continues to fascinate me.
Murals like the Palio dyptich; thread visual notes of color and form.
The energy, the joy, the pathos, the foundation of visual architectuality.
My primary goal is to reflect colors, sounds, situations and emotions.
It is horizontal, vertical, spiraling. One of its planes is the sound of color, but it entails many layers.
In my paintings; I create a portal for the viewer to go through that I have gone through first.
My job as an artist is to excavate the mystery. The mystery is that which cannot be explained; the alchemy beyond technique and preconceived imagery.
Art is my language, it is the way I communicate the things I cannot say. Art is my adventure into the unknown; found only through risk.
At times the method is working with chance, no calculation, spontaneous inspiration, destruction and this allows a specific type of image to emerge.
At times, the method is a pre ordained construction inspired by years of reference. Method is fluid and comes from the need to revamp and express.
The painterly technique is of basic importance. One can see that in many paintings with content as a priority, however, seeing has more of a demand in my work. Seeing is the vital action that equalizes the creator and the witness.
The murals are totally driven by the context. The internal relationships of measurement and placement relate to a central axis of the site. The composition follows a strict logic even if to the eye this seems not possible.
Currently I am working on a few series of paintings ;one is inspired by the Living Sea, a combination of objective and abstract imagery to convey the color and movement in the organic splash of the ocean as it breathes in and out and regenerates. Another series is based upon Femmes, comprised of gesture in motion, symbolism, metaphor… where the implied has more importance then the obvious.
I find it a priority now also to focus on social issues including domestic violence in paintings like “It takes A lot to Laugh it takes a Train to Cry” and GLBT specifically transgender subjects as in “Q” and “R” and “Born a Boy.”
I think of many artists as influences , Paolo Uccello, Anselm Keifer, Giotto, Howard Hodgkin, Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente…amongst others…..all for various reasons some of which are the use of light and color, perspective and mostly alchemy.
