When creating pictorial or sculptural objects, it is risky to trust the intuitive nature of emotions and the intellectual information that comes from observation.
For me, the only way to overcome this risk is in the language of abstraction.
The process of abstraction is one of spontaneity, flexibility and trusting the intuitive nature of the act. Also inherent is an emotional reaction and metaphorical reckoning on the part of the viewer. All of this helps to create a new visual language with which to address the issues behind the visual statement.
The issues behind my work are personal and autobiographical. I work with them as an attempt to find my own identity in a divisive social structure. Maybe in a way I am trying to find a common ground while existing in a society that is full of hostility and hatred.
These works are about extremes and the tension that is created when opposites are thrust together. The opposites need each other to define each other. The compositions—sometimes simple, other times complex—aid in building the works as they evolve. Sometimes black and white is dominant and other times, color; just as life is not always—if ever—on an even plain.
The color is entirely about emotions. They are something we all have, yet many people avoid them. If one does not trust them, they can have a profoundly negative effect. No matter what one does, they will always be there. To embrace one’s emotions leads to a positive integration into the self and a healthy way of expressing them.
Black and white is another important element of the work. It defines our lives, representing the choices we are forced to make. Even though the world is filled with shades of gray, society moves us towards the extremes. Trend-setters / policy-makers / politicians (call them what you will) tell us one thing can negate the whole; you’re either for or against something; there’s no room for compromise; you must be all-in; agree with me or you are a traitor.
The black and white tends to be a counterpoint to the color. It is about the constant struggles of good and evil, life and death, control, rigidity, and—sometimes—humor. I use these opposites to balance my world.
I concentrate on the history of the process so that it silently complicates the depth of the object. By juxtaposing complicated geometric patterns with freehand shapes and line, works are created that stimulate, disturb, and distill feeling. The viewer, through a metaphorical language, must attempt to resolve this tension and find the truth in these works.
These pieces are about looking for emotional truth in a post-modern world. It is an act of continuous clarification and transformation.
Abstraction has communicated for me when I could not. It has kept my faith and hope alive, never allowing my work to become cynical. Such cynicism seems ever-present in the contemporary art scene; it has led to a virtue of emptiness in “the new object.”
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