Art has always nourished us in ways that have been utterly essential. Our need for this replenishment has become dire as societies become increasingly mechanistic and forgetful of human qualities and dimensions.
The process of making art involves communion with one’s own soul, which dwells in the shared realm of the infinite. The resulting voice communes with other souls, resonating through our depths and affirming our interconnectedness. It speaks from a realm beyond the temporal. This has always been important, but never more so than today. So much of contemporary life focuses on the surface level in unfortunate neglect of the depths of the psyche.
Our society reflects the inner divisions wrought by our traditions: a lack of wholeness within ourselves, and, for many, a dearth of genuine connection with others. Art is one of the few mitigating factors available to counteract the limitations and threats of our times. It enables us to recognize the deep and intricate connections we share, and sense that we are part of a much larger whole.
This wholeness is manifest in the multilayered webs of relationships of which painting is a mirror and metaphor, as well as a strand in the web. My work deals with the relationships between colors and forms, and the symbolic content of those relationships. In painting, I seek to evoke deep familiar chords that have been hidden, forgotten, or unacknowledged, bearing witness to the wordless and unspoken.
A word about digital images:
For a long time I resisted sharing digital images of my work. Contemporary life being what it is, I eventually relented. In sharing digital images, especially with people who haven't seen originals of my paintings, the memory of which might be sparked by the implications of the digital, I must underscore for the viewer the limited nature of what they will see. A digital image of an oil painting is not the painting. It is an approximation of the painting; it suggests the painting. By it's very nature it cannot possess the tactile, sensual, and visceral qualities of the painting - the very qualities that most interest and impel me. If you think the difference might not be be substantial, please consider the difference between the seven foot sound wave of a pipe organ and the tiny sound wave from the same pipe organ emitted from an ear bud.
The process of making art involves communion with one’s own soul, which dwells in the shared realm of the infinite. The resulting voice communes with other souls, resonating through our depths and affirming our interconnectedness. It speaks from a realm beyond the temporal. This has always been important, but never more so than today. So much of contemporary life focuses on the surface level in unfortunate neglect of the depths of the psyche.
Our society reflects the inner divisions wrought by our traditions: a lack of wholeness within ourselves, and, for many, a dearth of genuine connection with others. Art is one of the few mitigating factors available to counteract the limitations and threats of our times. It enables us to recognize the deep and intricate connections we share, and sense that we are part of a much larger whole.
This wholeness is manifest in the multilayered webs of relationships of which painting is a mirror and metaphor, as well as a strand in the web. My work deals with the relationships between colors and forms, and the symbolic content of those relationships. In painting, I seek to evoke deep familiar chords that have been hidden, forgotten, or unacknowledged, bearing witness to the wordless and unspoken.
A word about digital images:
For a long time I resisted sharing digital images of my work. Contemporary life being what it is, I eventually relented. In sharing digital images, especially with people who haven't seen originals of my paintings, the memory of which might be sparked by the implications of the digital, I must underscore for the viewer the limited nature of what they will see. A digital image of an oil painting is not the painting. It is an approximation of the painting; it suggests the painting. By it's very nature it cannot possess the tactile, sensual, and visceral qualities of the painting - the very qualities that most interest and impel me. If you think the difference might not be be substantial, please consider the difference between the seven foot sound wave of a pipe organ and the tiny sound wave from the same pipe organ emitted from an ear bud.
