ARTIST STATEMENT

For years I have created paintings and drawings that are colourful and strident. Some use the human figure as the core subject and others are abstract. The figurative works are based on my personal experiences in diverse places amongst a variety of people. I look for artistic solutions that communicate a certain aggressive energy, through an expressive handling of paint focused on colour and texture.

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My formative years as an adult artist were inspired by my family and work as a museum curator.  My wife introduced me to dance as an art form and she taught me so much about patterns and movement.  I also have three daughters who danced and they performed from early childhood into adulthood.  As we followed their artistic progress, I learned more about the intricacies of dance and the complex designs of the theatre, attending scores of professional performances whenever we could.  Light, colour, texture, layering, geometry - all these artistic elements play roles in my work as a painter and I credit these interests to the ongoing experiences I have had with dance and theatre. 

I also have to consider the influence of an unlimited number of art works that I have viewed, studied and interpreted, having worked as a museum curator for 35 years.  Through my work at four art museums in the United States I was able to see original art from around the world and across time.  I have been particularly attracted to modern and contemporary art, being informed by almost a hundred years of abstract painting.  I hope that viewers of my work can appreciate the value of close looking and its implications for critical thinking in a world where we all need to pay attention. 

My abstracts have become a wonderful place where I can teeter between irrational "visioning" and practical "constructing".  I often find myself daydreaming about shapes, colours, lines, textures, people, situations, and events that I find in the world around me. I use these 'dreamy' observations as starting points and carry through with these perceptions to morph into compositions that convey my own inner world.

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My painting excites and challenges me, with the possibilities seeming endless. I hope the creations will be compelling to viewers as well, drawing them through the portal of the painting and into the twists and turns of my imagination.